It All Started With a Kansaga Blossom
by nherbie
Summary: John has a secret admirer. Sweet, right?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

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Lt. Colonel John Sheppard typed in the last word, added punctuation and saved his document. He then ran spell check and fixed the few words the program identified as incorrect. Opening his email, he composed a new one to Woolsey and attached the document. He hit send, looked at his watch and a big smile lit up his face. He stood up and threw his hands in the air. "Touchdown and the crowd goes wild!" He said loudly.

Major Evan Lorne looked up from his laptop with a smile. "Get all your reports in on time this month, sir?"

"I did _and_ with twenty minutes to spare I might add! A new personal best!"

Lorne laughed. "Not hard to best always being late, John."

"Do _NOT_ forget that I am your superior _and_ your commanding officer, Major Lorne, and I deserve the respect my rank entails." He responded in a cold tone. The two men stared at each other for almost a full twenty seconds until Lorne's lips twitched causing Sheppard's to quiver. Both men dissolved into laughter, calling it even. "Ok, Evan, I am officially done, D-O-N-E, done. I'm heading to my quarters for a quick shower and then see if I can find any of my team who are up for a late dinner. You gonna be around?"

"No, I actually have a date tonight." He had another hour or so and then Cadman would be taking his place as duty officer.

"Oh, really? Do tell!"

Lorne went bright red and wished he'd kept his mouth shut. If Sheppard knew, then Ronon, Teyla and McKay would shortly know and he could expect the four members of Atlantis's premier off world team to tease him unmercifully. After that, it would be all over the city. He half decided not to tell his CO who the date was with. After all, it was on his personal time and none of the Colonel's concern. Then he took a closer look at the expression on the man's face. It appeared to be simple curiosity, although maybe there was a bit more lurking underneath and he suddenly wondered if the Colonel might be lonely. He had his team, who were closer than friends, more like family, and a lot of acquaintances, but no one special in his life. He cleared his throat. "I'm taking Celia Larm on a picnic on the East Pier when I finish up here."

"Celia Larm? She the cute new nurse that just came in on the Daedalus a few weeks ago? Blonde, blue eyes?"

"That's the one." He seriously hoped the Colonel wasn't interested in her as well. All the women on base seemed to want to catch the eye of the tall, dark and handsome military commander of Atlantis. Sure, he had his own success in that area, he'd be stupid not to know that he was good looking in his own right. It was just something about Sheppard that attracted them in droves. The sense of mystery maybe? The air of command? The stories about his escapades and many escapes from death? The feeling he was unattainable? The fact that he didn't even seem to know they followed him around like puppies, looking all googly eyed at him? Hell, he didn't know, he'd never been able to figure women out. He knew the Colonel flirted as much, if not more, than most of the men on base but, as far as he knew, his CO had never had a romantic relationship with anyone here. His personal opinion was that Sheppard's heart was already taken by someone he thought he could never have.

He'd watched Teyla and John together over the years and was pretty sure there was something special there, something neither one seemed to be willing to act on. To the point where Teyla had become involved with a fellow Athosian and had born his son. Kanaan had quietly faded into the background and, while he knew the man had recently gone to live on New Athos permanently as he'd been the one to ferry him there, he doubted many even realized the man had even lived here, let alone had gone again.

While Teyla was technically under his command, as John was leader of their team, she wasn't military and there were no real regulations against a relationship. He'd heard from Ronon that Sheppard had an ex-wife. He wondered if his CO had been hurt so badly he was afraid to try again. He stopped himself there. While the Colonel was easy going and didn't stand on ceremony, there were certain things that were off limits, even for him. The man's love life, or lack thereof, was sure to be one of them. He realized Sheppard was looking at him oddly, as he'd zoned out for a minute. Clearing his throat, he asked. "Is there anything you need me to do before I go off duty?"

"As a matter of fact, there is something." Lorne sighed, wondering if he was going to have to cancel his dinner plans after all. Sheppard grinned at the sound. "You can make sure you look your best for tonight and fill me in on all the details tomorrow. I live vicariously through you." He laughed but Lorne's thoughts returned to what he'd been thinking earlier, again wondering if the Colonel was lonely. Maybe he meant it as a joke, but maybe it wasn't really funny.

His CO was a good man and the best commander he'd ever served under. He deserved to be happy. Lorne hadn't been too sure what to think when he'd first arrived here. Then he found out he was expected to think, he was expected to offer his opinions and he was expected to disagree with the Colonel if he felt strongly about something. And Sheppard always listened, a situation most soldiers never experienced with their CO. He may still go his own way, but he paid attention to the opinions and thoughts of those under his command. And for the Pegasus Galaxy, it worked. He watched the man walk away with a wave over his shoulder and went back to his own work. Another hour and he'd be free to clean up and pick up Celia.

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Sheppard whistled as he loped towards his quarters, his ground eating strides making short work of the distance. He acknowledged greetings as he went, never stopping to talk until he saw Corporeal Hank Kline approaching from the opposite direction. The base wasn't huge in terms of personnel, but there was still a good sized military presence he had responsibility for, all of whom were very far away from home and the familiar. He had a good memory and put it to use as he made it a point to know all of his men's names and get a general understanding of what was going on in their lives. He did the same for the scientists, as Rodney would never be able to comprehend the concept. He made sure that it was never to the point of intruding on personal matters, but was just enough to give him some insight into his people, both military and civilian. He often wondered if his own career path would have taken a different turn if even _one_ of his commanding officers had cared enough to find out about the men serving under him. He was oblivious to the fact that his people adored him for this personal touch and would follow him anywhere. John stopped and Kline did as well, saluting his CO, Sheppard returning it. "Corporal Kline, it's good to see you back. How's your father doing?"

Kline's face broke into a huge grin. "He's doing much better sir! The surgery was a success and he's back home with my mom now. He'll have to take it easy for a while but the doctor's think he'll make a full recovery and have many more years with us. Thank you for arranging my leave so quickly and for taking care of all the transportation arrangements to get me home in time to be there with my mom. I would have hated to think of her waiting there in that hospital without me. I have to admit I was a bit of a mess when I found out how bad his heart was."

A shadow flickered across Sheppard's face, quickly gone but Hank had seen it and felt bad, not knowing what to say. He'd heard through the grapevine that his CO had been estranged from his own father and that the man had died of a heart attack several years ago, without them being able to make amends. He was floundering for something to say when Sheppard beat him to it.

"You're very welcome but I didn't do much, just greased a few wheels." He winked. "I'm very happy to hear he's doing so well. Keep me up to date on his progress, will you?"

"Yes sir!" Hank knew the Colonel wasn't just saying it, that he really would be expecting updates and would track him down if he didn't get them. He'd raved about his CO to his family when he'd been home, telling his mom how he'd known about his dad's health issues almost as soon as he did. Detailing how the Colonel had gone out of his way to make sure he could get leave and get home as quickly as possible, without his even having to ask. When he'd passed on the Colonel's personal words of encouragement for her, she'd fallen under his spell without even having met him. That reminded him. "Sir, my mom baked some of her special snickerdoodle cookies and sent them back with me for you. Would it be okay if I dropped them off at your quarters when I'm off duty at 0500 hours tomorrow morning?"

The Colonel's face lit up. "Cookies? Real, honest to goodness, homemade cookies?"

"Yes sir, best you'll ever taste, if I do say so myself! My mom's a great cook!"

"It would be more than okay for you to drop them off, but at your convenience. Just, do me one favor?"

"Of course sir."

Sheppard looked up and down the hall and then leaned in towards Kline, who blinked a couple times in confusion. Whispering conspiratorially, John said. "Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to get those cookies to me without McKay, Ronon or Teyla getting wind of it. If any of them find out, I'll be lucky to get one or two of them before they're all gone!"

Kline's jaw dropped open as Sheppard straightened up, grinning. Finally getting that his CO was joking with him, he sketched a quick salute and replied. "Most likely a mission impossible, but I accept this assignment and will carry it out to the best of my abilities, sir!"

Sheppard laughed. "All I can ask, Hank, all I can ask. Now, I have an appointment with a shower and the mess hall." He waved as he turned and continued on his way to his quarters. It wasn't until he disappeared around a corner, that Hank realized he was standing there staring after him and that his CO had just called him by his first name. He started walking again, heading towards his original destination and the smile never left his face.

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Sheppard rounded the corner to the corridor his quarters opened off of and stopped short when he saw something lying in front of the door. He approached slowly, his sense of caution finely honed by a little over six years in another galaxy, fighting enemies on all sides. As he got closer, he realized it was a flower, one he didn't recognize. Unsurprising, as he wasn't well versed in the flora of the worlds they visited or even, truth be told, that of Earth. He could just about tell the difference between a rose and a daisy, but that was it. He stopped when he reached it and debated on whether to pick it up or not. For all he knew, its scent was poisonous or it had thorns that could kill him. One never knew around here, it could be anything. He pulled his bandana out of the right pocket of his BDUs and wound it around his right hand. Leaning down, he carefully picked the single flower up. Hard as he tried, he still caught a whiff of its perfume as he lifted it and closed his eyes. Not only was it a beautiful flower, but it smelled heavenly and it hadn't knocked him out. Yet.

He thought about going to ask one of the botanists what it was, but then had a better idea. He'd ask Teyla. He quelled the traitorous thought that maybe she'd left it for him. Since Kanaan had left, a departure that seemed to have little to no impact on her or Torren, he thought he'd noticed a shift in their relationship. He'd loved her since the moment he'd placed the lost necklace around her neck in the ruins, but had never acted on it. At first because he didn't recognize the feelings for what they were. He'd thought he'd been in love with Nancy when they'd married but look how that'd turned out. What he felt for Teyla was so much stronger than anything he'd ever felt for anyone that it scared him. She'd become an ally, was the leader of her people and a member of his team. Someone he had come to depend on when they were off world. He hadn't wanted to jeopardize that by telling her how he felt, especially not knowing how she felt about him. Plus, he wasn't good at talking about his feelings. Nancy would testify to that.

Then there were all the military regulations, none of which really applied to Teyla but were deeply ingrained in him. You didn't have romantic relationships with those under your command. So, he'd settled for friendship and they'd fallen into a routine. Then he'd found out she was pregnant and it had felt like his whole world had gone gray and lifeless. Pregnant with another man's child, in love with another man. He was too late. He hadn't reacted well, but had covered the why, putting it down to concern that she was placing her unborn child in harm's way, grounding her as soon as he found out. Eventually, he'd locked it away with so many other things and moved on with his life. He hadn't had a real lover in years, contrary to what McKay may think with all his Kirk comments. There'd been Chaya, but that had never had a chance. Same with Teer. She was destined to ascend and he'd wanted no part of that. They'd been together exactly once when his team had arrived to rescue him. She'd been gone shortly after that. The Lord Protector's daughter Mara had been beautiful but had only wanted to use him to get the throne. Then there was Larrin, commander of the group of people who called themselves Travelers. She'd been attractive but deceitful. He'd never be able to trust her while he trusted Teyla with his life.

He sighed. Maybe he was just destined to be alone for the rest of his life. A thought that made him immeasurably sad. He was a very private person but that didn't mean he didn't get lonely. He'd like to have someone in his life, someone he could love and who would love him back, with no conditions. He wouldn't mind having a family and Torren was important to him. Without realizing it, he'd been moving and now found himself in front of Teyla's door. He shrugged and triggered the door chime to let her know someone was requesting entrance.

Teyla opened the door and was surprised, but happy, to find John standing there, her heartbeat picking up its pace. She'd tried to ignore her feelings for him over the years, even going so far as to try a relationship with someone she cared about and who cared for her. She would never regret her time with Kanaan as it gave her Torren, the most important thing in her world. Still, she had quietly longed for more. Recently, it had seemed like John had been giving her signals that he had those kind of feelings for her and she'd been hopeful he would finally act on them. Perhaps this was it. She smiled at him until he held up the flower he carried and her world burnt to ashes. She knew he was speaking but couldn't hear over the roar in her ears. How dare he? What had she done to deserve this except give him her loyalty, her trust, her friendship and yes, her love? She lifted her eyes to his and without conscious thought, her hand flew out with every ounce of strength she had in her as she slapped his face. It was hard enough that his head snapped to the left and his body actually spun to follow it. She quickly stepped back into her room and closed the door between them.

She leaned up against it and let tears fall for the first time in a long time. Teyla Emmagen did not cry. Still, the tears on her face would say otherwise. She looked around the room as if she'd never seen it before. As if in a trance, she pulled out a satchel and began to pack her things. She could _not_ stay here, she couldn't bear it. She would only take those items that were Athosian. She would not take any of the Earth things with her, especially those given to her by John. She sighed when she realized she'd somehow accumulated more than would fit in a single bag. She would have to get something else to put them in or ask that they be sent on to New Athos after her departure. She stood in the middle of the room, not sure what to do next, feeling more bereft than she'd ever felt before.

Outside in the corridor, John stared at the closed door with his mouth open and his hand held to his burning cheek. She'd hit him hard enough to pull the muscles in his neck and he had no idea why. That woman sure packed a punch. He pulled the hand away from his cheek and went to knock on the door, determined to find out what the hell had just happened, when he heard footsteps and froze. Footsteps he recognized as belonging to Ronon. Great. The big man turned the corner and found his friend standing in front of Teyla's door with his hand lifted as if to knock. His first thought was that it was about time. His personal opinion was that the two of them were made for each other and he had voiced his thoughts about that on more than one occasion. When Sheppard didn't knock and didn't turn, Ronon started to laugh, figuring his friend was either frozen with indecision or just plain old fear of asking out the girl you liked.

When Sheppard finally turned, he stopped laughing when he saw the angry red mark on the man's cheek. Was that a hand print? He started to ask what had happened when he saw what Sheppard carried. All laughter fled and his eyes narrowed to glittering slits as his hand strayed towards his blaster. "You offered her a Kansaga Blossom? How could you do that to her?" His voice was low and angry.

Sheppard looked down at the flower still held unnoticed in his hand. "A Kansaga what?"

Ronon's anger abated a little and he pointed at the flower. "A Kansaga Blossom. When offered to a woman, it says that the bearer has no respect for her and considers her worse than a chatatra."

"A _what_?"

Ronon struggled to remember the Earth term. He'd heard it used in an Earth movie they'd watched a few months ago and had figured out what it meant by the actions of the female character. Finally it came to mind. "A whore? A woman who would sell her body to anyone, for anything."

Every bit of blood drained out of Sheppard's face, making the angry red mark stand out even more. "I didn't."

"You didn't what?"

"I didn't offer it to her! Someone left it for me and I brought it here to ask her what kind of flower it was. I've never seen it before." He didn't volunteer the fact that he'd hoped that maybe Teyla had been the one to leave it. He had a sudden thought. "What does it mean if it's offered to a man?"

"No idea, never heard of a Kansaga Blossom being given to a man."

"Huh." Sheppard turned back to the door. "Why would she believe I would _ever_ think that of her?"

"It's one of the worst things a man can 'say' to a woman here in the Pegasus. She wouldn't have thought, she would've reacted." He indicated Sheppard's face.

"Yeah, she reacted all right." He wasn't sure if he wasn't a bit angry with her for believing he would ever do anything so cruel to her. "I doubt she'll listen to me right now. Think you can get her to listen to reason? To explain it wasn't meant for her?"

"I can try. Stand behind me, I doubt she'll let either of us in if she knows you're here."

"Okay." He moved to stand behind the big Satedan, feeling a little cowardly as he did so.

Ronon reached out and hit the chime, adding his voice. "Teyla?"

Inside, she immediately wiped away the evidence of her tears. She wouldn't, couldn't tell him why she was leaving. She scrambled for a reason that would sound plausible and the only one she could come up with was that she missed Kanaan, as did Torren, and that they'd decided it was best to live together on New Athos to try and make it work as a family. Somewhat more composed, she moved to the door and waved her hand over the box to open it. Ronon stared at her, noting the signs that she'd been crying, and she looked away, moving back into the room, folding and refolding her things in order to have something to do with her hands. Anything to keep her turned away from him so he wouldn't see the pain on her face. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"Packing."

"Why?"

"I am going to New Athos. It is the only way Kanaan, Torren and I can truly be a family. He is not comfortable here."

John's heart stopped for a second, then started beating frantically. She couldn't leave, he wouldn't let her. He stepped out from behind Ronon. "Teyla, please don't leave, let me explain."

She ignored him as if he wasn't in the room. "I was hoping you could help me move some of my things later?" She asked Ronon.

"Teyla?" She still ignored him and he wasn't sure what to do.

Ronon stepped forward a little. "Teyla, listen to him."

"Listen to who?" She would _not_ acknowledge the man who had just insulted her in the worst way possible, the man who had broken her heart. All the love she had had for him had been burned away, leaving nothing but ashes. To her, he no longer existed.

"Teyla." Ronon said gently. "It's easy to forget that they aren't from here. That they don't know the old stories or all our traditions." She blinked and a tear slid down her check unbidden, despite her best efforts.

John couldn't stand it and stepped forward to gently cup her cheek and wipe the errant tear away. "Don't." He whispered. "Don't you _ever_ cry over me. I'm not worth it and you're better than that. Teyla, you have to know that I think you are the most loyal, trustworthy and admirable person I've ever met. Everything Ronon told me that flower means, you're the antithesis of. I'm sorry you misunderstood and I'm sorry that I never told you any of those things so that you wouldn't have believed what you did. I had no idea what that flower was and I wasn't offering it to you anyway. Someone left it for me in front of my quarters and I…" He stopped and swallowed hard. She searched his eyes, not saying anything but not drawing away and he took his chance. "I hoped that maybe it had been you." He finished quietly.

"Me?"

"Yeah, it's a custom on Earth to anonymously leave a small token, such a flower, for someone you…like. It means that you have a secret admirer, someone who has an…affection for you and is interested in pursuing a relationship but is trying to figure out how you feel about them." He blushed furiously at how much he'd just revealed, but he needed her to understand he hadn't meant to insult her and didn't want her to leave, especially not to go back to Kanaan. Kanaan. Suddenly he realized what she'd said. She wanted to try to have a family with Kanaan. He stepped back and his voice was devoid of any emotion. "If you're leaving to go to Kanaan, no one will stand in your way and we'll wish you every happiness. Just don't leave if it's only because of a misunderstanding."

"You hoped I had left it?" She ignored everything he said about the father of her child. Her heart was rising from the ashes and she felt hope again. He nodded. "And if I had?"

"I would've been the happiest man in two Galaxies." He said so softly she could barely hear him. She could tell how much it cost him to say it, how uncomfortable he was with talking about his feelings. But he _had_ said it, trying to make her understand, trying to make her want to stay.

She moved closer to him and raised her hand to his right check, gently stroking the mark she had put there. "I am sorry I hit you. When I saw that flower in your hand, everything I had been hoping for seemed like a foolish dream."

He reached a hand up and covered hers. "What dreams were you hoping for?" His heart was in his eyes and Teyla had never thought she would see such honesty there.

"You." She breathed out.

He sighed and slowly leaned down, waiting for her to draw back. Instead, she slid her hand behind his neck and pulled him closer. He paused before their lips met, giving her one last chance to pull away and she urged him closer still. He gave in and closed the last of the distance, touching his lips gently to hers, ready to pull back if she indicated she was uncomfortable in any way. When her lips opened to his, he sighed again and the final tension left his body. Deepening the kiss, neither of them noticed when Ronon slipped out of the room. The door closed behind him and he rubbed his hands together with glee. He needed to find McKay and cash in on their wager. The genius had bet his complete supply of chocolate that Sheppard and Teyla would never act on their feelings and get together. Even the obtuse scientist had seen what was right before their eyes but was positive nothing would come of it. Ronon had bet they would. He'd won and he was going to collect. Now. He sprinted towards McKay's lab.

Inside Teyla's quarters, the flower lay on the floor, forgotten.

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	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

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Very early the next morning, McKay and Ronon converged on Sheppard's quarters to try to figure out who had left the flower for the military commander and for McKay to verify he'd lost the wager. It would seem he had, but he was still having trouble getting used to seeing Teyla snuggled up against Sheppard's side. He hadn't believed Ronon when the man had shown up at his door last night, demanding his supply of chocolate, stating that he'd won their bet. He'd wanted to head right out to confront Sheppard but Ronon wouldn't let him, stating that they needed to let the new couple have some space. Rodney had been sure that his big teammate was just trying to keep him from finding out the truth and was trying to abscond with his chocolate before he could confirm whether it was true or not.

Now they were here in person, long before any sane person should be up. Somehow, he'd been shocked to find Teyla in Sheppard's quarters that early, lost bet or not. Also, somehow, their two teammates had been expecting them, both of them knowing that Ronon would not have kept the information from their teammate. They now had their heads together, each throwing out names of who might have left the flower for John and the others dismissing them almost immediately, when Ronon's head snapped up. He'd heard something outside the door and the feral smile of a predator appeared on his face. He got up and silently walked to the door, swiping it open in one quick move, to find Corporal Hank Kline leaving a package in front of Sheppard's door.

Behind him, he could hear McKay snort with laughter. Reaching out, he grabbed the Corporal's collar and dragged him into the room. McKay reached out and snagged the package the Corporal was holding, ripping it open and then laughing harder. "Oh…my…God….Sheppard's secret admirer is not only someone under his command, but a guy who was leaving him cookies!"

Sheppard knew why Kline was there but he determined he was going to have a bit of fun with his friend. "Rodney." The scientist was still chortling and not listening. "Rodney!" Sheppard tried again, this time louder.

"What?"

"Are you telling me you're homophobic?"

McKay sobered. "No, of course not. I could care less." He paused and his eyes widened. "I mean, you're not…you aren't…." Suddenly he found himself rethinking all the overnight off world excursions, community showers and saving of each other's lives. Kline just looked bewildered.

Sheppard laughed. "Rodney, you are so gullible. Corporal Kline was simply dropping off some cookies his mother made for me as a thank you. I knew he was coming by after his shift, I just forgot." He looked at Teyla and she smiled, knowing she was the reason why he'd forgotten.

Corporal Kline was still looking bewildered, his eyes moving from one team member to the other, not understanding why all of them were in the Colonel's quarters this early, fully dressed and ready to face the day. He knew for a fact that they had no off world mission scheduled that day and that Sheppard wasn't due on duty until 0900. John watched him for a minute and then took pity on him. "Sorry you got caught up in this Hank. Someone left a flower for me in front of my door last night and we're trying to figure out who it might be. You just had the bad luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"It could be anyone, sir." He blurted out.

Sheppard looked confused. "I'm sorry, anyone?"

"Yes, sir. I mean, you must know that most of the woman on this base have mad crushes on you." He stared as his CO when the man's face went bright red, surprised that he looked so bewildered. His three teammates broke out in laughter at the look on his face, making it go redder, which hadn't seemed possible.

"I…I…" John started and then stopped, not knowing how to reply. He'd flirted here and there, but never with any real heart in it. He'd never been able to muster up enough interest in anyone to override his feelings for Teyla and he'd never noticed anyone showing any particular interest in him, other than a passing one. If they'd been talking about Ronon or Lorne, he would have had no problem believing it. When the others laughed again, this time Hank hesitantly joined in. John got himself together and laughed a little shyly with them, still not sure if they were pulling his leg. "Well, maybe it's better to just let it go. It was probably just a nice gesture to say thank you for something."

"Riiight." McKay chortled at him. "Come on, you have to be dying to know who it is! I know I would be!"

"Me too." Ronon added. Hank nodded his agreement.

Teyla frowned. "Perhaps John is right. It would be better to just let this go. Whoever it is will soon find out that he is no longer available and we would not want to cause this unknown person any unnecessary embarrassment." She moved up closer to him and put her arm around his waist.

"Teyla Emmagen, did you just stake out your territory?" John asked, his eyebrows raised. He felt a warm feeling spread out from his stomach and he pulled her closer to his side, still amazed that he now had the right to do so.

"And if I did?" She asked playfully.

"I might start leaving flowers for myself outside my door." He laughed as he dropped a kiss on the top of her head.

Hank watched this with an open mouth. There had been speculation amongst the ranks about the relationship between the two, but there had never been any sign that they were anything other than colleagues and friends. Ronon watched the young corporal with a smile, seeing the thoughts chase themselves across his face, completely open to anyone paying attention. He found himself liking the guy. He punched him lightly in the shoulder and paraphrased an earth idiom he liked. "Better close your mouth Kline, you're letting in the whistalas."

"Whistalas, sir?" He looked even more bewildered.

"Similar to what you Earthers call flies."

"Oh? Oh!" He snapped his mouth shut and looked longingly at the door, his only exit from this confusing situation. He'd only meant to drop off the cookies and head to his quarters for a nice shower and then fall into his nice warm bed. Now he seemed to be embroiled in some mystery concerning the Colonel _and_ a relationship he hadn't known existed.

Sheppard frowned a little, starting to worry. "Hank, can I rely on your discretion? Teyla and I…I mean we…" He swallowed hard, wondering why it was so hard to put into words. Teyla gave him an encouraging squeeze and suddenly the floundering was gone. "We only became a couple last night and we haven't really had the time to figure out how to let people know. Plus, I'll have to talk to Woolsey before we let anyone else in on this."

Hank straightened up and saluted. "You have my word sir!" Truthfully though, he was kind of disappointed that he wasn't going to be able to tell anyone. He would've loved to be the first person to know about this and break the news to his friends, acquaintances and to people he didn't even know, aka the whole of Atlantis. He'd be the one everyone wanted to talk to, the center of everything. He stood at attention, waiting for further orders.

"Relax Hank, I know I can count on you. Look, why don't you head on out to do whatever you were planning on doing and forget all this. Please send your mother my heartfelt thanks for the cookies."

Behind him he heard McKay speak up. "Yeah, let her know they're fantastic!" The words were somewhat garbled.

"Yeah, me too." Ronon added, his words also mushy.

Sheppard turned to find out what he feared would happen, had. Both men had a mouth full of cookie and several more in each hand. He sighed and looked in the box that was now sitting on his table, finding only one cookie and some crumbs left. Putting on his best puppy dog face, he looked and up and asked. "You couldn't at least have left a couple of _my_ cookies for _me_?" Both men looked unrepentant as they swallowed and shoved the next cookie in their mouths, almost in unison. "Maybe you two should try out for the synchronized eating team." He looked at Hank and hummed the theme song for Mission Impossible, making the younger man smile.

Hearing soft laughter behind him. John turned to find Teyla holding several cookies as well. "Et tu, Brute?" She blinked a couple times, not understanding the reference. "Never mind, it means 'You too?'"

"I merely rescued them from these two so that you would have some for yourself." She held the cookies out to him and he smiled widely at her, his love for her no longer hidden but openly displayed in those expressive hazel eyes, causing her heart to beat wildly.

They stared at each other, the cookies held out but not taken, until McKay cleared his throat and said. "Earth, or rather Atlantis, to Sheppard and Teyla!" They both looked at him a little guiltily and he sighed. "Great and how long are we going to have to deal with the longing looks and meaning laden silences?"

"I'm sorry, _what_? Have you been reading gothic romances again Rodney?" John asked.

Rodney went bright red. "I've told you again and again that that book was _not_ mine! Cadman left it behind after that regrettable incident."

"Sure McKay." Ronon added his two cents.

"Boys." Teyla said, knowing how this argument usually ended. One day, someone would get hurt. The three men looked at her with identical expressions on their faces, the one that said 'he started it'. "Ronon, Laura has already admitted the book was hers. You and John will stop teasing Rodney about it. Now, both of you, please apologize to him."

Ronon and John looked at each other and then at Teyla, who merely raised an eyebrow. McKay looked smug. Both mumbled an apology and Hank looked on in shock. He'd been here long enough to not only hear the stories about the bravery of both men, but also to witness it in person. He'd never seen the Colonel or Ronon back down from anyone or anything, yet here was this petite woman getting them to do exactly that. He thought about it for a moment and then realized he'd been privileged to see the inner workings of the number one off world team on Atlantis. The team that was so close they were more like family. Teyla was obviously the mother figure and the voice of reason. The Colonel, Ronon and Dr. McKay were the siblings who fought amongst themselves but would never allow another to harm anyone within their circle. He found himself hoping to be on a team like this sometime in the future. Now he knew why so many of the other off world teams tried to emulate them.

He sidled towards the door, thinking his presence had been forgotten, when four sets of eyes turned to him. Sheppard grinned. "Well, now you've seen how Teyla cuts us all down to size on pretty much a daily basis." He leaned in and said in a low voice that was pitched loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. "Watch out for strong women, son. They won't let you get away with anything."

"John Sheppard!" Teyla had placed her rescued cookies back in the box, freeing up her hands and now had those hands on her hips as John grinned at her.

Turning back to Hank, he continued. "If you find one, grab hold and don't let go." He moved over to take Teyla's left hand off her hip, raising it to his lips and pressing a soft kiss to the back. Speaking more to her than to Hank, he then said. "You'll never be sorry."

Teyla melted into him and McKay made gagging noises, breaking the spell in the room as they all laughed. John turned towards Hank. "Off with you Corporal! Enjoy your down time and I'll see you later." He turned to his team. "I think it's time we hit the mess hall for breakfast, don't you?" The others nodded and the five of them left Sheppard's quarters, Hank heading toward his own and the others towards food, none of them aware of the eyes watching carefully.

~,~,~,~

"Richard?" John stopped himself from wiping his suddenly sweaty palms on his pants. "Do you have a minute?"

"Of course, John. Please, come in." Richard Woolsey saved his work, then sat back and wondered what had brought his military commander into his office with such a lack of his usual breeziness. He narrowed his eyes a bit when he realized Sheppard was actually nervous. His first thought was that he and McKay had broken or blown up something significant. He braced himself for the what, how and why it wasn't their fault and wondered how they'd managed to get into trouble so early in the day. He waited a few moments and, when the Colonel seemed a bit nonplussed and unsure how to proceed, he prompted. "You wanted to talk with me about something?"

"Uh, yeah. It's actually something personal. Or rather not just personal. I mean…." Sheppard stopped and looked helplessly at Woolsey. Give him a wraith and he'd face it head on. He'd fly a nuke into a hive ship with barely a blink. Single handedly take on a Genii invasion of Atlantis and come out ahead. Talk to someone about something so personal, and he was an unmitigated disaster, especially without Teyla there to encourage him.

"Colonel?" Woolsey prompted again.

Taking a deep breath, John decided it was like ripping of a Band-Aid, just get it over with and deal with the fallout afterwards. "I wanted to let you know that the…relationship…between Teyla and myself has…changed."

"You mean you finally admitted you're in love with her and she with you?" Woolsey asked. John's mouth dropped open and he could only stare at the expedition leader. "I'm not here because I'm stupid, John. I doubt there are many people on base, at least among those who know both you and Teyla well, who haven't been expecting something like this to happen. I'm just surprised it took you so long."

"She's under my command." John said in a strangled voice, letting his worst concern out.

"Technically, yes, and has been for six years. Most of which, if I were to hazard a guess, you had feelings for each other and it never effected how you did your job, either of you. She isn't part of our military and those regulations you're probably worried about, do not apply to her."

"No, but now it's…it's different and I wasn't sure how you'd feel about it." Woolsey had been one of the most uptight and rigid men he'd ever met when he'd come to Atlantis as the new expedition leader. Almost two years and many close calls, including Keller turning into a hive ship and an excursion to Earth to head off a super wraith hive ship, only to be trapped there until the powers that be had finally admitted the city belonged back in the Pegasus galaxy, had mellowed the man.

"I'm actually quite pleased, to tell you the truth, as long as you continue to not allow it interfere with your work, either of you. If it does, we _will_ have to revisit this." He smiled. "You both deserve to be happy, John, and I won't stand in the way of that. Both you and Teyla have been through a lot over the years and it's time for something good to happen to you. I also know Torren is quite fond of you, more so than his own father." He held up a hand when John opened his mouth to speak. "I'm not saying you usurped Kanaan's rightful place as the boy's father, he gave that up voluntarily with his own gradual lack of interest in the child. It will be good for him to have you take a more permanent place in his life."

John stilled. He hadn't really thought about that. The fact that Torren would now be part of his life, as someone other than just the child of a close friend. A child that he adored and had a fierce desire to protect, but…not his. He examined his feelings on this and was surprised to find he was thrilled to face the prospect of becoming Torren's quasi father. If, or rather when, the time came when he asked Teyla to marry him, he found himself hoping she would allow him to follow Earth customs and adopt the child as his. To become his father in fact. He looked up and smiled brilliantly at Woolsey, who blinked a bit then smiled back.

Both men stood and Woolsey held out his hand. "Congratulations to both you and Teyla, John. I have a feeling I'll need to make sure my wedding officiant license is up to date."

John started a little as he realized how close Woolsey's words were to his own thoughts earlier. He took the other man's hand and shook it. "Thank you Richard. We'll do everything we can to make sure this works for everyone."

"I know you will, Colonel. I know you will. FYI, I think we'll keep this information here on Atlantis. I see no reason why the SGC or IOA need to be informed of the status change of your and Teyla's relationship. I can't guarantee that someone else won't let the cat out of the bag, however."

John immediately thought of Kavanagh and was relieved the man had posted back to the SGC on Earth. There was no one else that came to mind who would be malicious and petty enough to try to make trouble for him and Teyla by tattling to either governing body. He smiled at Richard. "We'll deal with that, if or when it happens. I have my years in and can always threaten to retire. Thank you for taking the time to talk with me, I'll let you get back to your work." John turned and left the office with a spring in his step. Richard watched him go and felt a momentary jealousy. He'd once thought he'd had what Sheppard and Teyla had, only to have it come burning down around him when his wife had not only filed for divorce out of the blue, but also sued for, and won, custody of the dog he'd adored. He shook himself, sat down and went back to work, a small but melancholy smile on his face.

John hurried back to his quarters where the rest of his team waited. He thought the door open before he got there and closed it behind him. Three anxious faces turned to him and he had a momentary thought to tease them a little by letting them think Woolsey had been against this, but he couldn't keep the smile off his face. The three relaxed and Rodney blurted out. "Oh thank God he didn't have any objections! I wasn't looking forward to the four of us…" he looked at the crib in the corner…"er, five of us skulking out of Atlantis and setting up a home somewhere else that would be safe from the wraith. Plus, I'm not sure I could have talked Jennifer into coming with us."

Teyla looked at him in surprise. "You would have done that, Rodney? You would have left Atlantis and everything you hold dear, just to come with John, Torren and I, if we had had to leave here in order to be together?"

He looked at her and nodded. "Of course, Conan and I couldn't let you out of our sights. Who would save you when you needed saving?" He seemed perplexed that she had asked.

Walking to her teammate, Teyla put her hands on both his shoulders and lowered her head in the traditional Athosian manner. Hesitantly, he lowered his head to hers. "You are a good man and a good friend, Dr. Rodney McKay and I count myself blessed to have you in my life." She said. Rodney didn't know what to say so, for once, kept his mouth shut.

Dropping her hands, Teyla turned and looked at Ronon. "Yeah, what he said." He responded in answer to her unspoken question, feeling a little uncomfortable with the gravity of her question and wondering if Amelia would have come with them.

She walked to John and took his hand in hers. "The Ancestors have truly blessed us this day." He squeezed her hand and nodded, not having any words of his own that would add to what she had already said. He thought back to that fateful day when he sat in a chair in Antarctica and so completely changed his life for the better. He'd found a home, a purpose, friends, a family and love. He'd just had to come millions of light years from Earth to do so.

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	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

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John sat at his desk, doing his paperwork and humming under his breath. He'd never felt so happy and didn't quite know how to express it. Lorne looked up from his own work and marveled at the sight of Lt. Colonel John Sheppard, not only at his desk midmorning, but actually doing paperwork as soon as it crossed his desk _and_ looking happy to be doing so. Usually, he and McKay or Ronon, or all three of them, would be out getting into some kind of mischief when they didn't have an off world mission, anything to avoid the dreaded paperwork until it was so late he had to do a marathon session. He was also surprised that John hadn't grilled him about his date with Celia last night. It actually hadn't gone as well as he'd hoped and they'd ended it sooner than planned. She'd been a little too self-centered for his taste, talking about herself constantly, dropping names here and there, not only calling Doctor's Keller and Beckett by their first names but by stupid nicknames, making it sound like they couldn't do without her even though she'd only been there a few weeks. She'd even dropped Zelenka's and McKay's at one point, hinting that both had tried to ask her out. Every time he'd started a conversation that didn't have to do with her, she'd just talked over him and led it right back around to her favorite subject. To say he'd been disappointed, was an understatement.

John looked up to find his XO staring at him and realized he was humming. He grinned at Lorne who just looked back in surprise. Suddenly, he remembered that his second in command had had a date last night that he'd been pretty excited about, but this morning hadn't said a word about how it'd gone. "So, Evan, I've been waiting to hear how your big date went last night! Spill it!"

Lorne sighed. "It didn't. I took her back to her quarters as soon as I could."

"I'm sorry, I know you were looking forward to it. What happened?" He frowned a little, sorry to hear his XO's hopes had been dashed, especially in the light of what had happened in his own life.

Lorne didn't really want to go into it but figured he'd give Sheppard some of the bare details and leave it at that. Once he got started though, he couldn't stop and pretty much gave a blow by blow description of the disaster that was his latest date, culminating in her surprise that it was cut short and her claims that it had been one of the worst dates she'd ever been on, stating that he hadn't allowed her to get a word in edgewise. How he'd snorted at that, shook his head in disbelief and left her standing outside her door. By the time he was done, he actually felt better and was beginning to see the humor in it. John saw the change come over him and smiled. "Sounds like a lucky escape. Maybe you should ask 'Jen' and 'Carse' about her. Also, I'm sure Radek and Rodney would love to hear all about how they hit on her and flamed out. A piece of information I'm sure _Jennifer_ would find very interesting." Lorne smiled back at him and started to laugh, John joining in.

"May I ask what is so funny?" Both turned at the sound of Teyla's voice.

"Evan was just filling me in on his date last night with Celia Larm, the new nurse that came in on the Daedalus a few weeks ago. Seems it didn't go quite to his expectations."

A look of distaste came over her face. "Yes, I have met Nurse Larm. I did not find her very…congenial."

"Well, I wish I'd talked to you before asking her out Teyla. It would have saved me from a very unpleasant evening." Lorne said.

"Are you looking for someone Evan? There are several very nice women on Atlantis, and even on New Athos, I think you would be very well suited with." Teyla was so happy right now, she wanted everyone around her to feel the same. Rodney had Jennifer, Ronon had Amelia and now she and John had each other. Her eyes narrowed as she mentally ran down a list of women she thought would be worthy of the kind young man in front of her.

"Ah, thanks Teyla, but I don't need a matchmaker. I think I'm going to enjoy being single for a while. I appreciate it though."

"You are most welcome." She turned her attention to John. "Are you ready for lunch?"

He stood up and stretched. "You bet I am, paperwork makes me hungrier than working out with both you and Ronon at the same time." He locked and closed his laptop, then walked to her side. Without thinking she lifted her face to his and he dropped a light kiss on her lips. At the strangled sound that came from the other side of the room, they both grinned. This wasn't the way they'd planned on letting Lorne in on their change of circumstances but, it was as good as any. A very natural expression of affection with no need for uncomfortable words.

"Uh, yeah, Evan. There's something we need to tell you." John started.

Lorne kept the smile from his face as he held up his hand. "No need, I can tell what's happened. I just have one question for you." He said in his sternest voice. Sheppard was starting to look worried and he tamped down the urge to laugh.

"What?" John asked when he didn't say anything further. Of all the people he'd thought might have an issue with him and Teyla becoming a couple, Lorne wasn't one of them.

"What the hell took you two so long?" He stood up and held out his hand. "Congratulations John, Teyla." Sheppard shook it hard, a big smile on his face.

He turned to Teyla, planning on offering her his hand as well, but she placed both her hands on his shoulders and inclined her head. He felt honored and placed his forehead against hers. He'd only seen her do this with a select few, namely her fellow Athosians and her team. "Teyla, I know the both of you will be very happy."

"Thank you Evan, I believe we will." She stood back and John placed his arm around her shoulders. "Would you care to join us for lunch? We are meeting Rodney, Ronon, Radek, Jennifer and Carson in just a few minutes."

"Thank you, I'd enjoy that." He was pretty sure he would. That group, when they all got together at one time, could be pretty darn entertaining. He also locked his laptop and closed the lid. Joining them, the three left the office. "So, how many others know and how are you going to break the news?" He asked as they walked.

John answered. "Ronon and McKay. I talked with Woolsey so he knows. Oh, and Hank Kline." Lorne felt a little hurt that Kline had been told before he was and it must have shown on his face as Sheppard launched into the story of the early morning cookie drop, eliciting laughter from his second in command. Done, he continued to answer Lorne's question. "For now, I don't think we're going to be blatant about it. It's not like I can go on city wide and announce it. I think we'll just let it gradually get out and people will get used to it."

"Sounds good. How are you going to keep McKay from blabbing it to everyone?"

"Rodney is still a little shell shocked, to tell you the truth. And apparently he lost a bet with Ronon. I think he'll keep it under wraps, at least for a while. Plus, he'll enjoy knowing something everyone else doesn't. Feeds his ego."

"A bet? He and Ronon bet on you and Teyla?" Lorne didn't know whether to be surprised, angry or amused.

"Yup, lost his entire supply of chocolate."

"Wow! He must have been pretty confident to bet that."

Sheppard smirked. "I can't wait to see _that_ requisition form." Lorne huffed out a laugh as the three of them entered the very full mess hall. The rest of their friends were already there, having taken their normal table in the corner by the window. They waved and each grabbed a tray, filled it with food and headed over. One set of eyes followed John's every movement from the opposite side of the room. He put his tray on the table and pulled out the chair for Teyla to sit. Eyebrows rose around the table.

"What? I can't be a gentleman?"

Ronon snorted and McKay just grinned at him. The others looked at them, then at John and Teyla, then at Lorne who kept his head down as he sat. Once everyone was seated, conversation started and soon became pretty lively as Evan filled everyone in on his date's claims, including that Radek and Rodney had asked her out.

Rodney was indignant and turned to Jennifer. "Jennifer, I never did any such thing! I'm not even sure who she is! I would never do that to you!"

Jennifer patted his hand. "I know Rodney. Celia is a bit…full of herself and has a tendency to make more of things than they actually are. She …embellishes a lot. You've met her, medium height blonde with a pony tail and blue eyes. She helped you with a splinter last week." McKay looked totally blank and shook his head. In an unusual public show of affection, he turned his hand over and took hers in his. She smiled gently at him and he looked star struck. The rest looked at Radek, waiting for his rebuttal but instead, he turned a bright red. Apparently some of things she'd told Lorne were at least partially true.

Carson sighed. "Aye, she's a good nurse but not someone I would have chosen for here. We're a tight knit group and the lass is surely going to burn a few too many bridges if she continues as she is."

Lorne sighed. "I wish someone had warned me. It was a complete waste of my time, not to mention very uncomfortable."

"Sorry laddie, if I'd known ye were planning on asking her out, I woulda given ye a heads up."

"I know, thanks doc."

Talk turned to everyday things such as Rodney's ongoing belief that everyone who worked under him were complete morons, present company excepted. Radek, per usual, defended the scientists. The mess hall slowly emptied out around them as the two wrangled over one particular biologist and Jennifer watched the interaction between John and Teyla. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to figure out what was different about the two. When it hit her, her mouth dropped open. They'd always been easy with each other but there was a sense of a deeper intimacy now.

"Oh my God! You two finally did it!" She interrupted one of Rodney's long winded explanations of what the biologist in question was doing wrong and all eyes turned to her.

John went bright red at what he hoped was an unintended double entendre, while Teyla, not understanding the two ways the statement could be interrupted, simply asked. "Did what Jennifer?"

"You two are finally together! This is great! Now you can double date with Rodney and me!" The few at the table who were not in the know, looked confused and there was dead silence around the table as no one knew quite what to say.

Finally John smiled at everyone and responded. "Yeah, we are. We're hoping we have everyone's blessing?"

The table erupted in congratulations and 'I knew it's and 'It's about time's'. Luckily, by this time the mess hall was almost deserted or they wouldn't have had to worry about how to break the news to the rest of the Atlantis personnel. When everyone was done with telling the new couple how happy they were for them, the group started breaking up. Teyla and Ronon headed to the gym for a training session with some of the marines, Jennifer and Carson going back to the infirmary, Radek and Ronon tagging along on their way back to the labs. John and Lorne were the last ones to leave, heading back to their shared office.

John looked back to ask Lorne something and he ran into something soft. He quickly turned and caught the woman he'd just run down before she landed on the floor. "Dr. Hanson! I am so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going. My fault, I should have been more careful. Are you okay?"

"Oh, Colonel Sheppard, that's quite all right! I'm just fine." The mousey botanist looked up at him adoringly. Behind them, Lorne rolled his eyes as his CO continued on, totally oblivious.

"Are you sure?"

"Oh, yes." She took a step and crumpled into his arms. "Oh dear, maybe I'm not so fine. My ankle seems to be injured."

"Let me call the infirmary, they can send a gurney for you. Again, I am _so_ sorry!"

"No, please Colonel, no gurney. That would be just too embarrassing. Perhaps you could help me there?"

"Of course. Lorne, I'll be back in the office after taking Dr. Hanson to get medical attention."

Lorne desperately wanted to say that he was pretty sure the botanist wasn't hurt and was just trying get the man's attention but didn't want to embarrass her and, then again, what if he was wrong and the woman really was hurt? Instead, he nodded and said. "Perhaps it would be best for both of us to help the good doctor to the infirmary? If worse comes to worse, we could make a seat of our hands and carry her there." He wasn't looking at John when he said this, instead watching Hanson out of the corner of his eye, trying to gauge her reaction and he got what he was looking for. A momentary rage appeared on her face, quickly smoothed away.

"Oh, I just couldn't take _both_ of you away from your jobs. I'm sure I'll be fine with just the Colonel."

Lorne thought 'I'm sure you will' and wasn't going to give up. "Well, in that case, why don't I take you? I'm sure the Colonel has some very important things he needs to be doing."

John looked at Lorne, confusion clearly written on his face. He wasn't sure why the man was being so adamant. "It's okay Evan, I caused this, and I should be the one to take her. Thank you for offering though."

Frustrated, Lorne could only stand there and watch the two slowly walk away, Hanson hanging onto John and limping along pretty convincingly. He sighed and made his way back to the office. He was going to look into Dr. Hanson and see if there was anything in her file that would explain his sudden unexpected worry over his CO.

John walked Ruth Hanson slowly down the hall, apologizing again as she limped her way along. The way she clung to him was beginning to make him uncomfortable. Once they finally reached the infirmary, he gladly handed her over to Carson with an explanation, another apology to her and then made his escape. His friend was trying not to smile as he watched John practically run out of the room.

Turning his attention to the young lady, he asked kindly. "Now, lassie, where does it hurt?"

"I'm sure it's nothing Dr. Beckett. My ankle just gave out. It started feeling better as we walked here. I'm guessing it was just a muscle spasm or some such thing." She hopped off the bed that John had helped her up onto and walked back and forth in front of Carson. "See, it really is better. I'm glad it was nothing more serious, I know John would've been very upset."

Cason immediately noticed the botanist's use of the Colonel's first name. "Aye, I'm sure he would've been. Are ye sure ye don't want me to take a look anyway? Just in case?"

"No, no. Its fine now, I just had to work it out. Thank you." With a wave, she headed out the door, showing no sign of a limp. Carson shook his head and wondered what the woman would think when she found out John was now in a relationship and 'off the market' so to speak. He was distracted from his thoughts when one of the nurses appeared with some paperwork for him to sign and he forgot all about her.

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John hurried to his quarters, he couldn't wait to see Teyla again. He was to have dinner in her quarters in just over a half hour and he still had to shower and change. He just hoped she hadn't cooked. The woman was amazing and so good at so many things, cooking just wasn't one of them. He was so distracted, he almost missed the small wooden box in front of his door. Not again, he thought, a small frisson of discomfort moving up his spine as unpleasant memories surfaced. Unless it really was from Teyla this time? Maybe something she decided to do after his explanation of what a secret admirer was? He stood and looked down at the box for a moment, lost in memories of a different time. He finally leaned down and picked it up. The flower hadn't been poisonous and none of the Milky Way inhabitants of Atlantis would have known of the stigma surrounding it. Even if this was from some other secret admirer, it appeared they were harmless but he knew, to his detriment, that appearances could be deceiving. He opened it carefully only to find it was empty. He turned it over in his hand, deciding it was a pretty little thing. When he saw the faint made in China stamped on the bottom, he knew it wasn't from Teyla. He entered his quarters and put the box on his desk, figuring he would worry about it later.

He shucked off his clothes and slipped into the shower, finishing quickly. One thing the military taught you, was how to shower fast and efficiently. He lost time as he dithered over his limited wardrobe, wanting to dress up for her. He decided on a white dress shirt and black jeans with his dress shoes and black leather coat. Not exactly GQ, but not his uniform either. He left his quarters and hurried towards the botany lab. Katie Brown had promised him a couple of local flowers when he'd stopped by there after dropping Dr. Hanson off at the infirmary. His run in with the mousey little brunette had put the idea into his head of giving flowers to Teyla tonight. Ones that would, hopefully, erase the memory of the Kansaga Blossom. He'd asked Ronon if there were any other ones he should steer clear of and the other man had assured him there were none, after laughing his head off at the thought of his commanding officer showing up at Teyla's door with a handful of flowers.

He made it to the lab in record time, to find Katie eagerly waiting for him, a beautiful bouquet of colorful flowers in her hands. He grinned at her and reached out to run a finger over one of the more dainty blossoms. "Katie, I can't thank you enough for these. She'll love them." He'd told her who they were for when he'd been by earlier and she'd been thrilled for the two of them. She'd readily agreed to keep it quiet, understanding that this was new and they wanted to savor it before everyone else got all up into their business.

She handed them to him and, on impulse, leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. While she and Rodney had been estranged for a while after they broke up, the Colonel had always been kind to her. With the distance of time, she'd realized Rodney had never been right for her and they were actually friends now. He had Jennifer and she'd been dating a very nice man from engineering, someone she had more in common with than she'd ever had with Rodney. She'd watched Teyla and John together and had often wondered if she was just projecting her romantic musings on them. When he'd admitted that they were finally a couple, she'd felt vindicated, if only to herself. "Go knock her socks off John." She said. John chuckled and returned the kiss on her cheek. Checking his watch, he gulped and raced out of the room.

Ruth Hanson was aggravated. She'd ended her shift and didn't realize she'd left her laptop behind until she was all the way back to her quarters. She'd had to turn around and head back. As she turned the last corner, she saw John head into the botany lab. She stopped and stepped back, peeking around the edge, wondering if he was there to see her. She felt a little thrill. When he came out just seconds later, holding a bouquet of gorgeous flowers, she worried. Watching him moving away, she debated on following him or going into the lab to find out why he'd been there and who had given him those flowers. She decided on the lab, she could always catch up to him if she felt the need. Walking quietly through the door, she found Katie staring dreamily into space. She didn't particularly care for the other botanist, but had stayed on her good side as she used to date one of John's best friends.

"Hi Katie, did I just see Colonel Sheppard leaving?"

"Hi Ruth, yes, he was just picking up some flowers I'd put together for him. I thought you'd already left for the day?" She really didn't like Ruth, the woman set off something in her that was akin to the way she reacted to nails on a blackboard.

"I forgot my laptop. So…" she asked like she didn't care. "…did he say who they were for?"

Katie knew there was no way she'd let this woman in on the secret. John had trusted her with it and she wouldn't let him down. "I have no idea. He came by just after lunch and asked if I could put something together for him."

Ruth fairly vibrated with excitement. That would've been just after he'd helped her to the infirmary. The flowers had to be for her. "Well, whoever they're for, I'm sure they deserve it." She preened a little as she grabbed her laptop from her desk. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Sure." Katie watched the woman leave and wondered why she felt like she needed a shower. Unaware of the reaction she'd left behind her, Ruth hurried to her quarters, wanting to be ready when John showed up with the flowers.

John stood in front of Teyla's quarters and wondered why he felt nervous. They were in a relationship already, although they'd refrained from consummating it last night, instead spending the hours talking and kissing. Alright, lots of kissing and maybe…a little more. He kind of hoped tonight would be the night but he'd waited this long for her, he'd wait until she was ready. He tugged on his coat to neaten up his appearance and resisted the impulse to try to fix his hair as that was an impossible feat. He pressed the chime and the door opened almost immediately. His jaw dropped and he was speechless. She was dressed in a floor length Athosian gown the color of grass and it set off her coloring to perfection. She was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. Not able to speak, he just held out the flowers. She took them and buried her nose in the bouquet, breathing in the mingled scents.

"Thank you John, they're beautiful!"

He lifted his hand to her cheek and finding his voice, he said. "They pale beside you." She leaned into his hand, turning slightly to press a kiss to the palm.

"Dinner is ready, please come in."

He stepped through the door and it closed behind him, no thoughts of the botanist he'd helped to the infirmary earlier in the day, lingering in his mind.

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	4. Chapter 4

A/N – Just realized I forgot the usual disclaimer. I don't own anything to do with Stargate Atlantis except the DVDs and my OC's.

A/N2 – Thanks to honus47 for being my beta on all my stories! Any mistakes left are my own.

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Chapter 4

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John was in a haze of happiness with just a _hint_ of exhaustion thrown in. He'd spent the night in Teyla's quarters again but this time they'd spent most of it in bed. He tried to remember the last time making love had been so earth shattering and then wondered if love was what had made the difference. Now he was doing the walk of shame back to his quarters and he couldn't care less who saw him. He finally made it there and entered. He looked longingly at the bed but instead took off his clothes and headed into the shower. Showering and dressing quickly, he headed out to the mess hall to get something to eat before beginning his shift. As he headed to his office, a muffin in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other, Rodney and Ronon joined him.

"Sheppard, I need you to come down to my lab and look at a piece of ancient technology. I can't get it to activate. It probably needs your super gene." Rodney had never been able to completely hide his jealousy over the fact that his own artificially induced gene didn't measure up to Sheppard's natural one.

John was in such a good mood, he readily acquiesced. "Fine Rodney, let me just do a couple things in my office and I'll join you. Ronon, what's up?"

"Bored. Figured I'd tag along with McKay; thought it would be fun to see you shoot him down. You didn't." The Satedan sounded grumpy.

"No marines to beat up Conan?" Rodney asked snarkily.

"I've already beaten them all. You want to have a go?" Ronon asked, knowing full well McKay would want no part of it.

"Gee, thanks for the offer, but some of us have actual work to do around here."

Before the two could get into an argument and bring him down from his high, Sheppard waded in. "Ok you two. Ronon, I have some time later this morning and I'll spar with you then."

Rodney opened his mouth to object but Sheppard beat him to it. "Rodney, you'll have two hours of my time. Make the best use of it."

"Fine." He crossed his arms over his chest and pouted.

Sheppard hid a smile. The three of them rounded the corner to find Lorne just letting himself into their shared office. "Good morning Colonel."

"A very good morning to you too, Major!" He just couldn't keep the grin off his face and the other three smirked at him, knowing full well what, or rather who, had put it there. They walked in and John stopped short at the sight of the figurine on his desk. He slowly approached it and walked around it, examining it from all angles like it would bite. More bad memories surfaced and he frowned, his good humor evaporating quickly.

Rodney reached out and picked it up, turning it this way and that. "It's just a horse. What has you so spooked, Sheppard?"

Not answering, Sheppard turned to Lorne. "Did you lock the office when you left last night?" His tone was tight and intense.

Lorne frowned. "Yes sir, I always do. In fact, I just had to unlock it for us to get in. Why, what's wrong?"

"Was this _thing_ here when you left?" His disdain for the object puzzled his friends.

"No sir, I know it wasn't. I made sure your laptop was secure before I left. If that had been there, I would have seen it."

"Damn it." He was furious.

"John?" Teyla spoke from the door, having caught the anger in his voice. She'd been on her way to the gym and somehow her feet had brought her here instead, his presence like a homing beacon she was powerless to ignore.

"Hey, Teyla. Come on in and close the door behind you." She entered and did as he asked. When the door was closed, she turned to face him, a questioning look on her face that was mirrored on the faces of the other three occupants.

"Sheppard?" Ronon asked. He wasn't used to seeing his CO so unnerved.

John shook himself, knowing his friends were worried. "Look, it's probably nothing. It's just, I'm starting to get a bad feeling. A _familiar_ bad feeling."

"About what? A horse?" Rodney asked, one eyebrow quirked.

"It's not the horse, it's what it represents." He stopped, lost in memories.

"And what exactly does it represent?" Rodney asked when the silence became too much for him.

"Never mind, I'm sure it's nothing."

"John, it is not nothing. Something has you worried and you need to let us know what it is." Teyla stepped up to his side and slid her fingers into his. He gripped them tightly and sighed. If he was going to be in a relationship with her, he couldn't keep secrets. He had to go against his natural instincts to hide something like this from her. His failed marriage to Nancy had taught him that, too late.

"It was a long time ago, when I was in college. I had a good friend who ended up with a stalker."

"A stalker?" Teyla asked, both her and Ronon looking puzzled.

"Yeah, remember when I told you about secret admirers? For the most part, it's just a harmless infatuation. However, sometimes it becomes something more, something sinister. A stalker is someone who takes things to a whole new level. They become obsessed with the object of their affections and often become violent towards them or others around them."

"And you believe this secret admirer of yours has become this..this…stalker thing?"

"I don't know. I just know it started out with little things for Mandy. A flower or a poem left in front of her door. She was flattered and a little excited. Then things started showing up in her locker. Her _locked_ locker and it started to scare her. Things didn't end there. The presents started getting more bizarre, showing up in places that, whoever it was, shouldn't have been able to access. Inside the backpack she never let out of her sight, inside her notebooks, things like that. Then she started to feel like she was being watched all the time. She was afraid to be alone. A couple of us began to walk her to and from classes and to her dorm room at night. She stopped going out, afraid whoever it was would be out there. The last straw was when we got to her room one night and there was a teddy bear on her bed."

"A teddy bear?" Rodney scoffed.

"Let's just say the teddy bear wasn't in one piece and we'll leave it at that. We knew the room was locked when she left that morning as both she and our friend Wendell, who'd had pick up duty that morning, had double checked to make sure it was securely locked before they left."

"What did she do?" Ronon asked, fascinated by yet another weird aspect of human behavior on his friend's world.

"We reported it to the campus police, but there was nothing they could do. They brought in the local cops, who came by and took our statements, looked around the room, even fingerprinted the door. They found nothing. She was so scared, she stopped leaving her room all together, skipping classes and letting her grades drop. Eventually, she withdrew from school and went home to Idaho."

"And that was the end of it, right?" Asked Ronon. When Sheppard didn't reply right away, McKay and Lorne started to look a little sick.

"John? Your friend was fine once she returned to her home, was she not?" Teyla didn't like the look on his face, any more than she liked what she saw on Lorne and McKay's.

John took a deep cleansing breath and then answered. "No. No, she wasn't. I got a call from her dad a few weeks after she went home. He knew me, I'd gone there with her on spring break and a couple times over the summer when I wasn't working. Things were already tense with my dad and Dave had made his decision to side with him. Mandy knew it and brought me home with her, just as friends. Nice family. He let me know…" He stopped, feeling the same sorrow as if it had just happened. He swallowed hard. "He let me know that she was dead. She'd been kidnapped, raped and murdered on her way home from the grocery store. Taken in broad daylight and not _one_ damn person saw a _thing_. She was home, she felt safe again, but he found her. It could never be proved, but we all knew it was him, whoever _he_ was. To this day, her murder has never been solved." He paused. "I check in with her dad whenever I can. We all do. She was a great person, a good friend, and didn't deserve that."

"John, I am so sorry!" Teyla pressed into his side and he put his arm around her, leaning his head to rest on hers, the smell of her hair, her skin, just her, helping to lessen the shadows that had crept into the room.

"Damn, Sheppard, I don't know what to say. That's awful." Rodney wasn't sure what to do. On one hand, he wanted to head down to his lab and lose himself in the science where friends weren't murdered by psychopaths, on the other hand, he wanted to do something, anything, to comfort this friend. He just didn't know how.

Ronon reached out and put a supportive hand on Sheppard's shoulder, giving it a squeeze, knowing there was nothing he needed to or could say. He could only let his friend know he was there for him.

Lorne spoke up. "Things are different this time, John. You're certainly not some scared young co-ed and we're surrounded by some of the best technology in two galaxies. We'll figure out who this is and I'm sure it will turn out to be some love sick little scientist who meant no harm." He only hoped what he was saying would turn out to be the truth but his gut was telling him otherwise, no matter what platitudes he uttered and he was pretty sure he knew who it was. He just didn't know where she got the skills to break into a locked room here on Atlantis.

"Thanks Lorne. Thanks to all of you. It's great to have such good friends. And, as my friends, can we keep this between ourselves? The last thing I need is to have people start offering me their sympathies. I'd much rather they be offering me congratulations." He looked down at Teyla and smiled. She smiled back but still searched his face for some sign that he wasn't as fine as he said he was. She found nothing to worry her and a small amount of the weight lifted from her heart. It didn't mean she wouldn't be keeping a very careful eye on one Lt. Colonel John Sheppard and she knew the others would be doing the same.

~,~,~,~

At the end of a long day of paperwork, playing super gene with Rodney and getting his ass handed to him by Ronon, John was ready for a relaxing evening with Teyla. The thoughts of Mandy had refused to leave him, although he'd tried to push it to the back of his mind. It was in the past and he'd managed to get over it, or at least he'd thought he had. The fact that current events had brought it all back so vividly, told him he hadn't been all that successful. Understanding that, while he might say he was fine, that he wouldn't say he didn't want to be alone, his friends had stuck to him all day. After eating dinner together in the mess hall, they had a team movie night that helped lessen some of his melancholy, Rodney deliberately picking a comedy, although he usually picked a Batman movie when it was his turn. When they were done and broke up to head to bed, Teyla made sure he understood where he was to spend the night. Not that it took much convincing on her part.

They made it to her quarters without being seen, or so they thought. Ruth had waited all of the previous evening for John to bring her the flowers he'd had Katie put together for her. When he hadn't shown up, she'd started to make excuses. He didn't know where her quarters were, he was shy about showing her how he felt about her and so on. In the middle of the night, she'd gone to his office and overridden the door commands, courtesy of one Dr. Rodney McKay's boasting to Katie about how no locked door on Atlantis could keep him out and how he did it. She'd heard Ronon talking about the horses he'd seen at John's boyhood home when they'd gone there for his father's funeral. She'd spent a lot of time searching for a horse figurine in the Pegasus galaxy, finally giving up and having one delivered for her on the last Daedalus run from Earth. She left it in the center of his desk so he couldn't miss it and imagined his delight at finding it the next morning.

She'd returned to her quarters and eventually gone to bed, convinced that he would show up at her lab with the beautiful bouquet the next morning. So sure, in fact, that she'd gone to work early. When the day waned and he still hadn't come, she started to get angry and went in search of him. She found him eating in the mess hall with his team, Doctors Zelenka, Beckett and Keller, along with Major Lorne and followed them when they left. When they went into the break room and started arguing about what movie to watch, her agitation ratcheted up. He should have been seeking her out to thank her for the flower, the box and the horse. Instead he was being distracted by these interlopers. She waited impatiently for the movie to be over, wandering back and forth in the hall, making sure no one would see her hovering and make note of it. She was good at being inconspicuous when she needed to be.

When they finally called it a night, she expected John to take his leave of them and continue on to his quarters alone, where she could conveniently run into him. Instead, he walked with Teyla to her quarters. He was being a gentleman, she tried to convince herself. Her John was certainly that. She'd had to duck out of sight a couple times when he looked around, as if he'd sensed her following them, a frown on his face. When they reached Teyla's quarters, Ruth expected him to say goodnight and head to his own. Instead, he went in with her. As the doors closed, she caught sight of her bouquet sitting on a table in a vase and Teyla going into John's arms.

Ruth watched it all through a red haze. How could she? Didn't that alien slut know that John belonged to her? Hadn't she left him tokens of her affection? It was all that woman's fault, tempting her John with her alien wiles. She'd bewitched him, that's what she'd done and Ruth was not having it. Turning away, she stomped back to her quarters while John and Teyla enjoyed their evening, oblivious to the storm brewing on the horizon.

~,~,~,~

The next morning, John's mood had taken a swing for the better. Teyla had that effect on him. Following the same pattern as the day before, he went to his quarters to shower and change. She'd invited him to eat with her in her quarters, but tava root cakes were not his idea of a good breakfast. They reminded him too strongly of cardboard. He was heading towards the mess hall, to be followed up with yet another stint in his office with the never ending sea of paperwork Woolsey seemed to love generating. He really needed to see about setting up an off world mission. He perked up. Maybe somewhere safe, with a pretty little beach where he could enjoy some time with a bikini clad Teyla. The very thought made his breath hitch in his chest and his steps lightened as he made his way through the halls of Atlantis.

He was about half way there when he saw Dr. Hanson in front of him, heading in the same direction. She was carrying a container and was still limping. He felt a little bad but, mostly, he wanted to turn tail and run in the other direction. He sighed and picked up his pace until he was closer to her, then called out. "Dr. Hanson?"

She stopped and turned to face him, pasting a look of surprise on her face as if she hadn't just planned their encounter. "Oh, Colonel Sheppard, good morning."

"Good morning. I see you're still limping. I can't apologize enough. What did Carson say?"

"It's nothing too serious, I'm just supposed to stay off it for a couple days."

"Well, this doesn't look like staying off it. You need to take care of yourself."

Ruth tried not to smile in triumph, certain that his concern showed how much he obviously cared about her, no matter what she'd seen the night before. "I would, except that I'm in the middle of a project. I found a nitrogen-supplying fungus in one of the lower levels that looks promising as a fertilizer. I want to harvest it before its next reproductive cycle and, as I'm not sure when that is, I need to get it now."

"Oh, well, good luck then, but do take it easy." A little frustrated, Ruth nodded and took a step, throwing her hand out to the wall as if stopping herself from falling and almost dropping the container. John's hands shot out and steadied her. "Are you sure you want to do this? Couldn't you get someone else to get it for you?"

"I would but everyone is tied up with their own projects and I would just hate to lose the time."

She pasted a sad look on her face and John fell for it. He looked at his watch and figured he had time if he skipped breakfast. He could help her and still be on time for his duty shift. He hadn't made any plans with the rest of his team. "Look, why don't I go get this stuff and bring it back to you?"

"That's very kind, but do you know how to tell various kinds of fungus apart?"

"Well, no, but you could describe it to me, couldn't you?"

"I could, but even then, you may bring back the wrong kind. If you're sure you'd like to help, perhaps you could just carry this for me? It's a bit heavy and keeps throwing off my balance." She handed him the case. He took it and was surprised it _was_ a bit heavier than what he'd expected an empty specimen case to be.

Suppressing a sigh and wondering how he kept getting himself into these things, he gestured down the hall. "Lead on Dr. Hanson."

"Ruth, Colonel Sheppard." She was obviously waiting for him to tell her to call him John.

"Ah, yes, of course." He didn't respond in kind and he wasn't quite sure why. It wasn't like he was one to stand on ceremony and insist everyone use his rank. He really didn't care what the non-military personnel called him. In fact, quite a few of them either called him John or just Sheppard. He just found himself not wanting that kind of informality with her. Together they walked to the nearest transporter and Ruth selected a destination. When the doors opened, he was surprised to find they were in a well-lit corridor, not at all where he would expect to find a fungus.

"Are you sure we're in the right place? I thought fungus grew in dark and damp places."

"Yes, you're right! You're very smart." She batted her eyes at him and he wished he'd accepted Teyla's invitation to breakfast. Tava root cakes sounded pretty good right about now. Ruth continued, oblivious to his thoughts. "One of the inner rooms on this level is very damp and has no windows, so gets no light. It's how I stumbled on it. I don't care for going into the levels below the water line. I fear the walls will give way and I'll drown. Most of the others have no problem going into the bowels of the city. For once, my fear worked in my favor." She gave what she thought to be a self-deprecating chuckle but to John, it was weird enough sound to send shivers up his spine.

"I see." He didn't really, just felt like he needed to say something. He followed her down the hallway, noting that her limp seemed to have improved. He frowned, wondering if he'd been had. If she'd just wanted someone to do the heavy lifting for her and he'd been the sucker who fell for it. They took several turns and finally reached their destination. Ruth swiped her hand over the box that would allow them entry, standing back and gesturing for him to enter before her. He stepped in and stopped. This was nothing like the room she'd described to him. It was well lit by windows that filled three of the walls and was set up like someone's quarters, complete with a what looked to be a king sized bed covered with a fancy quilt. When he turned to question her, he felt a sting in his left leg and looked down to see a syringe sticking out of it, held by Hanson as she pushed the plunger home.

"What?" He started to ask as the room began to take on a fuzzy quality.

"Just a little something I distilled from flowers one of the others found on P37-374. It won't hurt you, just put you to sleep for a bit while I deal with that alien female who's trying to come between us. Sleep now, my love."

John staggered a bit, dropping the case from suddenly nerveless hands. "Tey…la…."

"Yes, Teyla." She spit out. "She won't be bothering us for much longer. This isn't the only thing I've created from the various plants I, and others, have found on our journeys. You don't need to worry about her any longer, John. Soon, she won't be a problem."

John staggered towards the door, his only thought to get to Teyla and protect her. He only took a few steps before he fell to his knees. He tried to get up but the numbness was spreading. His last thought as he toppled to the floor was that Teyla was in trouble and he couldn't help her. Darkness descended on him.

Ruth watched him stagger towards the door and then finally succumb to the injection she'd given him. When he fell to the floor and was still, she smiled. Reaching down, she ran her hands through his hair lovingly. "We were meant to be together, my darling, and no one will get in our way." She turned him over onto his back and put her hands under his shoulders. Grunting, she tugged and dragged him to the bed she'd so carefully prepared. She frowned, he was heavier than he looked. His slim frame belied the muscle mass under his skin. She had a hard time lifting him onto the bed but finally succeeded, wiping away the sweat that was dripping down her face. When she finally had him situated the way she wanted, she sat next to him, catching her breath. When she felt her breathing even out, she ran her hand down the arm closest to her, feeling carefully for the hard nodule that would indicate the location of his sub-cutaneous transmitter.

When she found it, she got up and opened the case he'd so kindly carried for her. Inside was a complete surgical kit and some field bandages, sitting alongside the normal specimen containers. She laid the tools out on the bedside table and pulled out a pair of surgical gloves, which she swiftly put on before picking a scalpel out of the array of tools she'd liberated from the infirmary. She traced the location again, noting the depth and length, then began to cut along the very faint original scar from when he'd had it implanted. Her degree was in botany but the human anatomy had always fascinated her and she'd taken more than her fair share of biology and anatomy classes while in college. When she felt she had cut long enough and deep enough, she went back to the surgical kit and pulled out a small pair of forceps. Reaching into the small wound, she dug around a little and finally captured the device. She pulled it out carefully and dropped it into a waiting specimen container. She perused the kit again, finally selecting a small curved suture needle and then deftly threaded it with some silk. Turning back to John, she carefully wiped away the welling blood and closed the wound, sitting back for a moment to admire her work. She was pretty sure it wouldn't even leave any worse a scar than the original had. After discarding the gloves and wrapping a field bandage around his upper arm, she again ran her hand down the length of it, finally catching his hand in hers. She squeezed lightly and was somewhat disappointed at the lack of response, then reminded herself of the effects of her concoction.

"Soon, we'll have nothing standing in our way, my love." She whispered as she released his hand and stood up, staring down at the sight of him sleeping quietly in the bed she'd prepared for him, imagining the two of them in it when he was awake. Feeling the sensations of him touching her body, running his hands over her lovingly. She moaned a bit and then shook herself. She had things to do, she couldn't be distracted. She reached out and gently removed the always present radio from his ear, sticking it in her jacket pocket, then picked up the container holding the device she'd just removed him. She shoved the used gloves on top of it and then capped the container, putting it in the same pocket. Picking up the case, she left the room and then disabled the ancient device that allowed access to it, by removing the center crystal, effectively making sure no one could enter and no one could leave. She pocketed it with a smile. John should sleep for several hours but she'd heard the stories about his abilities to escape from just about anywhere and she wasn't taking any chances, sure she'd covered all her bases. On her way back to her lab, she made a side trip to an empty balcony and threw the container and the radio as far as she could, hearing it make a satisfying splash. She watched until both sank out of sight and continued on her way, humming lightly as she went over her remaining plans in her head.

~,~,~,~,~


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

~,~,~,~

Arriving at the office he shared with Sheppard a bit early, Lorne was relieved to not find any more unexpected presents on his CO's desk. Shaking himself, he sat and began to access the personnel files, digging into Ruth Hanson. The events of the prior day had ramped up his suspicions but he hadn't had the time to do his sleuthing. During a long sleepless night, he'd decided to make time today. Her psych evals were all spot on but that didn't stop him. He kept digging, using some hacking skills he'd learned from Dr. McKay, not that he'd ever admit that to the egotistical physicist. Three hours later, he hit pay dirt. A sealed entry in her college file that had to do with a botany professor. The man claimed that she'd fixated on him and built a fantasy life where the two of them were a couple. The man in question was married and claimed that she'd targeted his wife, who had suffered a series of weird accidents that had no explanation, accidents he was sure were attributable to Ruth Hanson. Unfortunately, it was a he said, she said, situation and the man had eventually withdrawn his accusations, finding no one who would support him and no evidence to prove what he was saying as she protested her innocence and threw some aspersions on his character. The whole incident was sealed due to her age at the time and the fact that there was no proof. If someone hadn't been looking specifically for this type of incident, it would have gone unnoticed during the background checks the SGC did. Something he'd be bringing up during their next contact with Earth. Lorne shivered as he felt something that must be akin to what Sheppard had always described as his spidey sense, kicking in. He'd never really believed in it but now he found himself changing his mind.

He copied the file and sent it off to the rest of team Sheppard, feeling somewhat relieved as he put his worries into words about his sense that something was definitely off with the good doctor. A sense that wouldn't let him retract the email. He was surprised when McKay responded almost immediately, not with a caustic email about paranoia and delusions but asking for more details. He _wasn't_ surprised that he didn't hear from Teyla or Ronon as he wasn't sure either of them even remembered they _had_ an email account, let alone how to access it. He emailed McKay back, asking him to just come see him. He sat back and waited, not disappointed when the scientist stormed into the office asking for more information at a mile a minute.

"Look, doc, slow down."

McKay stopped his ranting and looked at Lorne closely, finally noticing the worry on the other man's face and found an answering feeling within him, a feeling he'd had since Sheppard had told his story, but he'd put down to the tragedy of it. Now he wanted to know what Lorne felt. "So, what exactly are you worried about Major?"

"It's hard to explain. Sheppard and I were leaving the mess hall yesterday afternoon after eating lunch with you guys. We were the last two to leave. John was looking back at me when he bumped into Dr. Hanson, the botanist. It wasn't a hard hit but she almost went down. When he apologized, she said it was fine but then took a step and almost fell again. You know the Colonel, if he felt it was his fault someone got hurt, he'd do anything in his power to help them so, after a bit of back and forth, he ended up taking her to the infirmary on his own."

"So?"

"Doc, I offered to take her in John's place and I saw a look of utter rage cross her face, although I'm pretty sure she didn't realize I was watching her. Nor was she happy about the idea that I go with them. I'm telling you, there's something wrong with that woman."

"Fine. If John took her to the infirmary, she would have been examined. Let's go check it out." McKay turned and stormed out, not bothering to make sure Lorne was behind him. Evan sighed and hurried to follow, pausing only to lock his laptop and then the office door behind him. Not that that seemed to deter his CO's stalker.

Entering the infirmary side by side, both headed to the office Carson used, the same one from before he'd died and come back, well his clone had come back. Jennifer preferred to sit in the lab so didn't insist on the office as would have been her prerogative as CMO. Lorne went to knock but Rodney just sailed right in. "Carson, we need to ask you some questions."

"Good afternoon to ye too, Rodney. And, no, I wasn't in the middle o'anything."

"Yes, yes, good afternoon and all that. Look, did Dr. Ruth Hanson come in here yesterday?"

Carson frowned, remembering his suspicions that the woman had faked her injury to get the Colonel's attention. However, doctor/patient confidentiality was very real to him. Still, he was starting to get a bad feeling. "Aye, she did."

"Well? How bad was she hurt?"

"Rodney, ye know I canna discuss a patient's condition with ye!"

Rodney's mouth opened to, no doubt, scathingly retort, when Lorne stepped in. "Look, doc, we're not here to find out all the details or break any confidentiality between you and Dr. Hanson. We just want to know if, in your professional opinion, whether or not she was hurt at all."

Carson looked from one to the other, the bad feeling continuing to grow. "Och now, why would ye be asking such a thing?" He asked warily.

Lorne took his tone as the answer. "I knew it! She wasn't hurt, was she? I bet she didn't even stay for an exam."

"Look, laddie, the wee lass just wanted some of the Colonel's attention. It was but a bit of harmless playacting."

"Yeah, well, you didn't see her face when I offered to take said Colonel's place to bring her down here. That was not the face of someone who was indulging in anything harmless." Lorne retorted. "And I did some digging and found that she was accused by one of her college professors of trying to get his wife out of the way so they could pursue a relationship he had no idea they were even in!"

"Oh dear, that does sound worrying." Carson stood up and began to pace a bit. "Still, the lass hasn't done anything except lie about being hurt." He didn't sound all that convinced.

"Yet." Lorne said darkly.

McKay finally put a word in. "Look, why don't we just tell John about what you found and that Carson doesn't think she was ever hurt? Then let him decide what to do. At least he can keep his eyes open and try to avoid her."

"I agree with Rodney, Major. I think the Colonel needs tae be informed as soon as possible." Now Carson couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. "Do either of ye know where he might be right now?"

Lorne frowned as he realized he had no idea. Sheppard might be nonchalant about the chain of command, but he always made sure that his XO knew where he was when he was on duty. He glanced at his watch, realized it was after noon and he hadn't heard a word from Sheppard that day. His concern ratcheted up several notches. "No, I have no idea and he hasn't checked in with me today. McKay, have you talked to him?"

"Not today. Last I saw of him was in my lab late yesterday afternoon, all starry eyed about having dinner with Teyla later." He was really starting to worry now and reached up to tap the radio in his ear. "McKay to Colonel Sheppard." He waited and frowned when he only got static. Reaching up again he said. "McKay to Zelenka. Radek, can you hear me?"

"I hear you Rodney. What's the matter?" Zelenka knew that tone of voice. Something was wrong.

"Have you seen Colonel Sheppard today?"

"No but was not expecting to. Why?"

"I'm not sure. Meet us in the infirmary." He turned and looked at his two friends. "He's not answering me and I just proved that my radio is working."

"Maybe he's just busy?" Carson asked, knowing that wasn't the answer but wanting it to be. The Colonel had a bad habit of getting into sticky situations.

Lorne answered. "That's not like him, doc. He'd at least answer McKay, if only to tell him to leave him alone."

McKay reached up to touch the radio once again. "McKay to Ronon and Teyla, please respond."

Ronon's voice came back almost immediately. "What do you want McKay? I'm kind of in the middle of wiping the floor with some of Sheppard's marines." Rodney could almost see the grin on the big man's face.

"Look, have you seen John today?"

The tone of voice changed. "No, I haven't. What's wrong?"

"We're just not sure, it might be nothing. Could you meet us in Carson's office? Oh, and find Teyla. She didn't respond to my hail and now I'm worried about her too."

"What's going on?"

"Did I _not_ just say that I don't know?" Rodney responded then he thought about it. "If you happen to see Dr. Ruth Hanson around, make sure she doesn't get close to Teyla."

"Why?"

"We're not sure, but we think she's gotten fixated on John and might try to get Teyla out of the way." He swallowed hard and left out that they weren't able to reach Sheppard. They'd go into that in person when both of them got here.

"Like that stalker guy Sheppard was telling us about yesterday?"

Rodney remembered the look on Sheppard's face, the regret, the grief and the anger and found himself praying to a god he didn't believe in that his team would not be experiencing the same feelings before this was over. "Yeah, just like that."

There was silence and then Ronon finally answered. His tone promised a world of pain to anyone who had hurt Sheppard. "You think she's the one leaving him presents." He stated it as fact. "I'll go by Teyla's quarters and we'll meet you in a few minutes."

"Good, good." He tapped his radio off and looked at the two worried men standing in front of him and wondered what Sheppard had gotten into this time.

~,~,~,~

Ronon reached Teyla's quarters and activated the chime. When she didn't answer, he tapped the radio the Lanteans had given him. "Teyla, this is Ronon. Are you in there?" Getting no response, he frowned and opened the box housing the device that controlled the door. He'd watched McKay do this often enough and he pulled out the center crystal, using it to bridge the other two. The door slid open and he was surprised at how dark it was, the drapes drawn over the windows. "Teyla? You in here?" He called out, hoping she was just in the shower. Still getting no response, he pulled out his gun and slowly advanced further into the darkened room. He almost fell over her body, sprawled out on the floor. He dropped to his knees and put two fingers on her pulse, breathing a sigh of relief when he found one. It was racing but she lived.

Reaching up, he tapped the radio once more. "Medical emergency in Teyla's quarters! You need to get here now!"

Carson responded immediately. "What's the emergency?"

"She's unconscious. She's breathing but her pulse is rapid and thready. I can't get any kind of response from her."

"We're on our way." Carson turned and looked at his friends. "You two stay here, you'll just be in the way and we'll be back here shortly anyway." With that, he hurried out of the office, leaving Lorne and McKay staring after him with concern. They'd both heard Ronon's words and worried that they were already too late. Grabbing two of his nurses, a gurney and his always packed medical bag, Carson raced to Teyla's quarters, everything he'd been talking about with Lorne and McKay going through his head. Already running through a list of poisons and the best remedy for each. The team arrived at her quarters in record time, mostly out of breath, to find Ronon pacing back and forth.

"It's about time!"

"We got here as fast as we could laddie. Now, let's see what we have." Carson entered and knelt down next to his friend, placing his stethoscope into his ears. He listened to her heart, took her pulse and checked her pupil responses. He wasn't happy about the enlarged pupils. Sitting back on his heels, he thought hard while his nurses worked around him, putting Teyla on oxygen support and prepping her to be placed on the gurney and brought back to the infirmary.

Ronon hovered over him. "What's wrong with her, doc?"

"I don't know for sure just yet, but I suspect some kind of poisoning."

"Poisoning? How could that happen?" Carson realized the big man hadn't been read in yet on everything they suspected. He looked up to say something when Ronon continued. "Is this why you had been looking out for this Hanson person? You think _she_ did this to Teyla?" Ronon's eyes were glittering with fury and his hand strayed to his gun.

"We don't know for sure Ronon. Please, I need you to stay here and help with Teyla." He really didn't, the man was actually more of a hindrance, but the last thing they needed was a furious Satedan rampaging through Atlantis. He stood and looked around the room, searching for anything out of place. The only thing he noticed was a hardly eaten sandwich on Teyla's desk, along with an almost full glass of what looked like water. He pulled sample bags from his medical kit, put on some surgical gloves and placed the sandwich inside one, zipping it closed. Placing it back inside the kit, he then pulled out a specimen jar, opening the lid and carefully pouring the remaining liquid in the glass into it. Screwing it closed, he placed it in the bag with the sandwich and the now empty glass. They couldn't rule out airborne pathogens, but no one else seemed to be feeling any ill effects. He toured the room once more and found nothing else. Turning, he found his nurses had moved Teyla to the gurney with Ronon's help and were just about ready to head out. He yanked off the gloves with a little more force than necessary.

"Okay, let's get the lassie to the infirmary." He paused with a sudden thought. "Where's wee Torren, then?"

Ronon answered. "Amelia has him. She's babysitting today while Teyla held her meditation classes."

"Aye? Well, that's good then." He turned back to the task at hand and they all hurried out, Ronon trailing behind, warily watching the people they passed. All appeared concerned with the passage of the unconscious Teyla with the medical personnel hovering over her. He knew she was well liked amongst most of the Lanteans. When they found out that John and Teyla had finally become a couple, he was pretty sure her popularity would go down in some segments of the population, specifically the female part. He didn't notice anyone taking any undue interest though. They reached the infirmary without incident and he went to stand with Lorne, McKay and the now present Zelenka, while Teyla was transferred to a bed and her blood was drawn.

Carson pulled out the evidence bag and the specimen jar, handing both to the nurse to be taken to the lab with the blood. He turned back to his patient, finding his nurses had started a saline drip. Until they could find out what kind of poison she'd ingested, if it actually had been poison, they couldn't use any of the normal poison treatments. What worked for one, could actually make it worse for others. He hoped the lab would come up with something soon. All they could do now was to treat the symptoms and keep her comfortable. He walked over to the silent friends who watched him carefully. "We don't know for sure what poison she ingested, if in fact, any. We're making her comfortable and keeping an eye on things. She's stable right now and hopefully she'll come out of it on her own. If either the sandwich or water was tainted, she didn't ingest much of either, which should work in our favor."

"Main question is, how they got poisoned in the first place." Lorne said. Carson opened his mouth and he held up a hand. "If they were poisoned at all."

McKay was already pacing back and forth, his worry over two of his closest friends displayed through nervous energy. "Come on Carson, we all know Hanson did this."

"Oh, are ye psychic now Rodney?" He was pretty sure his friend was right, but as a professional, he had to work only on the evidence presented and, until they had everything analyzed, he couldn't condone going off half-cocked and accusing people of attempted murder.

McKay looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Yes, as a matter of fact I am. I am now seeing a holding cell in a certain botanist's future."

"Rodney, ye can't accuse someone o' something like this without proof! Even if the lab comes back and proves its poison, ye have no proof it was her!"

McKay's mouth opened again when Lorne broke in. "He's right McKay. We have no proof that Hanson had anything to do with any of this. While we're waiting on the results of the lab tests, what do you say we concentrate on finding the Colonel?"

In all the excitement over Teyla's condition, the others hadn't thought to tell Ronon they were pretty sure their military commanding officer was missing. They realized their mistake when the big man drew himself up even taller and frowned menacingly. "What do you mean _finding the Colonel_? Are you saying Sheppard is _missing_?" He looked ready to take Atlantis apart piece by piece to find his friend.

"Well, we don't know for sure. It's just that no one has seen him today and he's not answering his radio." Carson said, taking his life in his hands to pat the man on the arm. "We were just going tae try tae figure out what was going on when ye called about Teyla."

Not one to take things at face value, Ronon reached up and tapped his radio. "Ronon to Sheppard. Answer me!" He got no answer, the same as the others. "What are we waiting for? We have to go find him!" He started out of the room but was stopped when McKay stepped in front of him.

"And where exactly are we going to search, Conan? Do you know how big this city is? How many unexplored rooms and labs there are? We need to do a coordinated search, not run off and search willy nilly."

"Willy who?"

"It means….never mind. Let's just try to do this methodically." He suddenly snapped his fingers as he often did when he got an idea. "Why didn't I think of this sooner? We can track his sub-q transmitter and find him wherever he is on Atlantis." He started to leave. "We need to get to the control room." He stopped and turned back to look at Teyla's unmoving form on the bed, already attached to a heart monitor and pulse ox, most of her face hidden behind an oxygen mask. "Carson, take good care of her. Please?"

"Aye, I will. The lassie is in good hands. We'll do everything we can for her."

"I know you will." His eyes left Teyla's bed and met Carson's eyes. "Thanks Carson." Then he turned and hurried out, the others trailing behind him.

Carson watched them go and breathed out a soft. "Find John, Rodney. This place just wouldn't be the same without him. We've almost lost him too many times already." He walked over to Teyla's bedside and sat on a stool, preparing to hold vigil at his friend's side while another was who knows where.

~,~,~,~


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

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The group of four stormed into the control room and McKay practically pushed Chuck, who was manning the sensors, out of his chair. He started punching in commands while the rest watched. Woolsey saw them enter from his office and got up to find out what was happening. When none of them noticed his arrival, he cleared his throat. Lorne and Ronon turned to him while Zelenka looked over McKay's shoulder, neither of them paying any attention to what was happening around them. "Major? May I ask what is going on?"

"I'm sorry Mr. Woolsey, I should have come in and told you as soon as we knew what was going on but things happened too fast."

"What things?"

"Colonel Sheppard appears to be missing and Ronon found Teyla unconscious in her quarters. She's in the infirmary right now. Dr. Beckett suspects poisoning." Chuck's mouth dropped open as he quietly listened in, no one remembering he was even there.

"Poisoning? Do you think Colonel Sheppard did it and that's why he's gone missing?"

"What? No, no, no, no, we don't think that at all. Our prime suspect is a botanist by the name of Dr. Ruth Hanson. Her actions around the Colonel concerned me and I alerted Dr. McKay. I found some things in her history that raised alarms. Things that I think are so similar to what's going on now as to be more than coincidence." He filled Woolsey in on the professor and the accidents the professor's wife had encountered.

Woolsey frowned. "Are we sure that this woman is the reason why Colonel Sheppard is missing and that she perhaps had something to do with Teyla's condition? Everyone associated with the SGC undergoes a psychological evaluation. Do you have any proof?" He hated the idea that someone with a psychological disorder might have gotten past the tests and was now a threat to two people he considered friends.

Lorne answered. "Well, no concrete proof. But think about it. I'm pretty sure she wanted John all to herself and I know she was furious when I tried to butt in. Suddenly John's missing, not answering his radio and Teyla's unconscious, most likely due to poison. Seems a little coincidental to me."

"Where would she get something to poison Teyla with?"

McKay piped up, proving that he wasn't completely unaware of what was going on around him, just that he elected not to bother answering. "The woman is a botanist. She can probably whip something up in her lab from any number of plants she's brought here from some backwater planet." He said absently, entering more commands and frowning. He looked up at Zelenka, who looked stricken.

Lorne, watching them, felt a shiver go up his spine. "What?"

McKay turned and stared at him. "I can't find any sign of John's transmitter." He admitted after a few seconds.

Woolsey stepped forward. "You mean, he's no longer in the city?"

"No, it means I can't find it in any of the areas the sensors are working in. There are plenty of areas that we haven't fixed yet." He snapped his fingers again. "We can scan from the air. Take up a jumper and scan the whole damn planet if we have to."

Lorne nodded. "I'll take one up right now. McKay, you coordinate from here."

"Fine, go!"

Neither bothered to get Woolsey's permission. Not that he wouldn't have given it, he would've just like to have been consulted. He watched Lorne bolt up the stairs, Ronon on his heels. He knew the Satedan wouldn't be able to just sit around on Atlantis if his friend was in danger, so he wasn't surprised. Sighing, he turned back to watch the two scientists talk in that weird shorthand of theirs. Part technical babble, part finishing each other's thoughts in incomplete sentences, each understanding the other without effort. He thought about going back to his office but found he wanted to be here and see what happened. The transition from Colonel Carter to him as the expedition leader hadn't been smooth but Colonel Sheppard had stood by his side the whole way. He'd come to enjoy their talks, smiling slightly as he thought about how surprised some people would be if they found out what they talked about. The Colonel was a very smart and well educated man. Something he kept hidden from most of those around him, for what reason he'd never been able to ascertain. He was needed here and locating him would now be everyone's first priority.

At the sound of the jumper exiting the city, they all turned to watch as it passed by the tower's window and then angled to attain more altitude. Once reaching a height of 1000 feet, Lorne leveled out and turned on the HUD. He tapped his radio and said. "We're in position to begin doing a sweep McKay."

"Good, good. I just sent you the transmitter frequency and code. It's unique to Sheppard and the sensors will only search for that one."

"Thanks doc. I'll let you know what I find. Lorne out." He started a methodical grid search over the city, Ronon sitting in the co-pilot seat, staring hard out the window as the city passed below them. Half an hour later, they still had no sign of the Colonel. Lorne widened his sweeps to include the water around the city, remembering the stories he'd heard about Sheppard finding Ford that way. He sincerely hoped they wouldn't find him there. His hopes were dashed a few minutes later when the HUD beeped and a dot showed up in the water, not far from the city. He turned and met Ronon's eyes, both of them knowing what that meant and none of it boded well for John's safe return. Neither spoke as they both turned back to stare out the window as Lorne guided the jumper over to the transmitter's location.

McKay's voice sounded in his ear. "Lorne? What the hell are you doing? Sensors show you're over the water."

Closing his eyes, Lorne took a moment before answering then reached up to tap his radio. "We know Rodney."

Both the quiet tone of his voice and the use of McKay's first name, told those in the city what they didn't want to know. Rodney responded first. "No, no, that's not possible. He can't be in the water. If Hanson is behind this, she wouldn't kill him. She thinks she loves him and that he loves her. That's the way that pathology works."

Carson's voice came on, sounding sad. He'd been listening in on the search through the military channel. "Aye, but it's also not uncommon for those afflicted to turn on the object of their affections if that person makes it very clear that they aren't interested."

Ronon and Lorne exchanged looks. How could one man be involved in two tales of stalking that ended badly in one lifetime? Ronon slammed his fist on the console in front of him and stood up. He couldn't sit still, wanting to find something to take his grief out on. He paced the jumper while Lorne watched him sympathetically, wishing he could do the same. Still, he had a job to do. He tuned back into his radio only to hear McKay denying it all.

"Maybe for someone else, but you know Sheppard! He'll play along until he either finds a way out of wherever he is or we find him! He'll charm the socks off her until she lets her guard down. No, there's no way that that's him in the water!" McKay crossed his arms over his chest. He wasn't willing to even consider that Sheppard might be gone for good this time. The man had cheated death too many times. He conveniently didn't think that maybe it had been one time too many. "Besides, he and Teyla…I mean it's only been a couple of days. There's no way he won't do everything in his power to get back to her."

Lorne looked at Ronon who now looked frozen in place, staring straight ahead, his face a blank mask. "I'm sorry Rodney." He hated the idea that this mission had turned from search and rescue to body retrieval.

"No, no, no, no, you go down there and you'll see. It's not him."

"Then how do you explain it?"

"I can't but I just don't believe it."

Lorne maneuvered the jumper lower to the water, watching the blip on the HUD. "We're going in. We'll…we'll bring him home." The jumper was equipped with machinery that could gently pick up anything bigger than a laptop and could, in a pinch, be used to retrieve a body. They entered the water at an angle, barely feeling the passage between air and water. He tracked the transmitter to an underwater rock formation and frowned. He tapped his radio again. "According to the HUD, we should be right over him but there's no…body."

Rodney swallowed the bile that threatened to come up, his overactive imagination envisioning the closest thing he had ever had to a brother, being eaten by some underworld denizen, leaving only the indigestible technology bits behind. He sat up straighter. "After my little incident with the downed jumper, Zelenka and I made sure all of them could extend the shield to cover more space, especially underwater. You can use that to get to the transmitter."

"Acknowledged." Lorne reached out and entered the appropriate commands. He turned to Ronon, hoping that the big man would be willing to do what he was about to ask. "Ronon, when I get close enough to where the HUD says the transmitter is, I'll extend the shield. I need you to lower the back hatch and walk out on it. Retrieve the device."

The man nodded once and got up from his seat, holding in the pain he wouldn't let anyone see, ever. John Sheppard had saved him from a life as a Wraith runner, even after he'd captured and threatened both him and Teyla. The man continued to surprise him on almost a daily basis, but he was one of the best commanders he'd ever had and the closest to being a brother. Not that he'd admit it, but McKay was close to holding that status as well. He'd been with the team long enough to see underneath the prickly exterior to find a much braver man than he would ever have believed. Also, one who felt more than he let on. Losing Sheppard would be hard on all of them. He walked to the hatch and waited for the word from Lorne. He wasn't sure what he was expecting but he set himself for the worst. Like McKay, he was aware there were plenty of carnivorous creatures in the ocean surrounding Atlantis. He swallowed hard, offering up a prayer to the Ancestors he no longer believed in, that he wouldn't find the transmitter with bits of his friend still attached to it.

Lorne settled the jumper in place and extended the shields. "Ok Ronon, you have a go."

Ronon hit the switch and the rear hatch slowly opened, the residual water from the jumper roof streaming inside and eventually subsiding to an unnerving drip. When it was fully down, he stepped carefully out on it, searching the rock formation for anything that could be the transmitter. Something glittered in the light from the interior of the jumper and he moved closer, reaching out to pick up a jar. What it contained, he wasn't sure. It might be nothing. He set it down and kept searching. He almost missed it but a change in the current made it move. He reached out again and picked up a Lantean radio that was resting a few feet to the left of where the jar had been. He closed his eyes for a moment and then placed it with the jar. He searched the rest of the area but couldn't find anything else. He picked up the two pieces and walked back into the jumper, hitting the hatch button to close it behind him. He walked up to the front and silently handed the two pieces to Lorne.

Lorne took them just as silently. The radio was theirs, no doubt about it. The jar, he wasn't sure about. Carefully, he unscrewed the top, taking out bloody surgical gloves between forefinger and thumb. He frowned, knowing that neither Caron nor Jennifer would countenance disposing of medical waste this way. What was under the gloves though, sent a shock through him. Sitting in the bottom was a slightly bloody transmitter. He looked up at Ronon and smiled widely, the runner looking confused. Tapping his radio, Lorne excitedly spoke into it. "McKay? We found it! In a jar with surgical gloves. The Colonel isn't here! We have a radio as well. If I was a betting man, I'd say it was removed so we couldn't find him this way."

The relief in the control room was palpable. McKay responded immediately. "I told you! I told you he wasn't down there." He crowed.

"You were right and I'm damn glad you were. Still doesn't help us find John though. We're heading back."

Carson came on again. "Bring me the jar and the gloves, will ye lad? I'll test the jar to see if we can find any clues as tae who did this." He sighed. "Might be a wee bit difficult as it's been underwater, but we'll do our best." When he got an affirmative answer, he tapped the radio off. He leaned over and gently patted Teyla on the shoulder. "There's a bit of good news, love. Ye need tae come back tae us now." He wasn't surprised to get no response from her. He sighed and then looked up when someone came into the room. Marie stood there with a tablet in her hands. "Have they finished the analysis then?"

"Yes Dr. Beckett. It confirms that there was something in the food. The same substance was in Teyla's blood sample. Unfortunately, whatever the substance is, it's not in the database."

Carson sighed. He'd been afraid of that. At least now they had an idea of what had transpired. He stood up and held out a hand for the tablet, Marie handing it over without a word. She came to stand by the bed. "Why don't you head over to your lab? I'll sit with her."

"Thank ye me dear. I just want tae draw a wee bit more blood tae see if the levels of the substance have dissipated any. Maybe we'll be lucky and it will work itself oot of her body naturally." Marie nodded and went to get the kit. When she returned, she efficiently drew enough for his test and handed it to him. He took it and patted Teyla one more time before heading to his microscope, hoping he could find something that would allow him to treat his friend with more than just saline and oxygen or that the levels were down. Marie watched him go and sat on the stool he'd abandoned. She'd always had an eye on Colonel Sheppard, something she knew she was not alone in, but had also known that no one other than the woman lying still in the bed had ever had a chance with him and she didn't begrudge the woman that fact. She offered up a prayer of her own that the two would have a future.

~,~,~,~

Lorne docked the jumper and both he and Ronon practically ran off it before the hatch even finished opening, Ronon clutching the items he'd found under the water. They both headed to the infirmary at a run, skidding to a stop when they finally entered the quiet room, the only sounds the beeping of the heart monitor on Teyla. Both looked at Marie for an update, taking the small smile as a sign that she wasn't any worse. Marie pointed towards the lab and they headed that way to find Beckett bent over a microscope muttering to himself. "Doc?" Asked Lorne, not surprised when the man jumped in surprise, so engrossed in his work he'd been.

"Aye, is that the jar with the gloves and the transmitter, then?"

"Yeah." Lorne held them out to him.

Beckett frowned. It wasn't the same kind of specimen jar the medical lab used. He looked up. "This isn't one of ours. Do ye think ye can track down which department uses this kind?"

"You bet doc." Lorne was going to start with Botany, more sure than ever that Hanson was behind this.

Carson opened it and found the gloves to be dry and protected, his hopes raising. "I'll test the jar but I think the gloves might give us the best data. The jar kept them protected from the elements and I might be able tae pull some DNA or even some fingerprints from the inside of them and match them up to the SGC database. I'll let you know what I find."

"Good. We'll be up in the control room with McKay and Zelenka. Let us know as soon as you do."

"Aye, lad, ye have me word."

The two left at a more sedate pace than that at which they entered. Stopping by Teyla's bed, Ronon patted her leg and Lorne her shoulder. They turned away, trusting the doctor to do everything in his power to help her in any way. In unspoken agreement, both turned to head back to the control room to see what their other doctors had come up with. Before they even reached it, they could hear the two doing their weird arguing which usually ended up with one of them coming up with an idea that no one else would have.

"Rodney, we can't track either the radio or transmitter in anything other than real time!"

"How do we know that the data isn't stored somewhere? We all know the ancients were somewhat lax with their documentation!"

"We've never found anything to indicate we can backtrack one of the transmitters!"

"But we've never found anything that said we couldn't! And if we can't, I think we need to look into setting it up to do just that. Who knows when some other whacko will decide one of us is her destiny and make off with us? Can you imagine the loss to Atlantis if it were me?"

Lorne and Ronon looked at each other and had to smile. The ego of Dr. Rodney McKay was the stuff of legends. They walked into the room together and up the stairs. The two of them were still sitting at the console, Chuck and Woolsey leaning up against others, quietly watching the drama that was their two best scientists working together. They both looked up when the two of them reached the control room.

"Good work you two." Woolsey said. They both nodded but knew that this wasn't over. "Do either of you have any ideas on how to find Colonel Sheppard?" Ronon nodded, caressing his gun. Woolsey smothered a smile. "Something that doesn't have to do with threats and bodily harm?" The Satedan looked disappointed.

Lorne had been thinking about this all the way back to Atlantis and had formulated a plan. "What if we let it be known that the Colonel is missing but we don't know why and that Teyla is unconscious but we haven't been able to determine the cause. That maybe we even suspect him of having something to do with Teyla's condition and that's why he's MIA. Then we watch Dr. Hanson and track her. See where she goes. I'm convinced that, eventually, she'll lead us to John." He paused. "Somehow I think Dr. Brown would be willing to help us." They all looked at Rodney who went bright red and shrugged.

Woolsey nodded but played devil's advocate. "We still don't know that she's behind this. We now know that someone removed the transmitter from Colonel Sheppard, but there's still no proof she was the one behind it. Besides, she's a botanist, not a medical doctor. Would she even know how to remove it?"

Lorne nodded. "Yeah, when I was going through her college history, I was actually surprised at the number of anatomy and biology classes she took, more than I would have expected from someone who was majoring in botany." Woolsey closed his eyes and sighed heavily.

Lorne turned and walked up to McKay. "Doc, can you pull up the requisition forms from the botany department? Specifically the kind of specimen containers they use?"

McKay nodded and entered the commands into his laptop. He pulled up the most recent requisitions, found the one that contained what he was looking for and brought up a picture of the ones most often asked for. Lorne took a look at it and nodded. "Yup, that matches what we just dropped off with Doc Beckett. He confirmed it wasn't a kind the medical staff use and I know it's not for geological samples." While he was career military, he had attended college, majoring in geology. He'd always been fascinated by rocks and had kept an eye on what that area of their expedition stumbled on.

"It's still all circumstantial concerning Dr. Hanson." Woolsey said. He held up a hand when several mouths opened to argue. "However, I will admit that said circumstantial evidence is stacking up against her. I will authorize the surveillance." They all nodded, thankful that he was behind them. "Now we just need to get the rumor mill in motion." All heads turned to look at Chuck, who attempted to put an innocent face on.

"What?"

McKay snorted. "Do you really think we don't know you're behind most of the gossip on Atlantis?"

Chuck opened his mouth to deny it, but then took in the hopeful looks on the rest of the faces looking at him. He relented. "Fine, I'll do what I can."

"That's all we can ask Chuck." Woolsey said.

Chuck smiled when he remembered that Woolsey had had a hard time getting his name right when he first arrived. He gestured to McKay to get up from his station and then took his place when he vacated. He started to type into the computer and then stopped, finding them all watching him. "Do you mind?"

"What? Your grapevine is a closely guarded secret?" McKay huffed out. He'd been on the receiving end of said grapevine, it seeming to know about his breakup with Katie almost the moment it'd happened. The same with his relationship with Jennifer. He blushed a little when Chuck merely raised an eyebrow. "Fine. We'll leave you to do whatever it is you do." He turned and stalked away. The others smiled and melted away themselves. Once alone, Chuck began disseminating the misinformation across Atlantis, using a carefully constructed network of trusted confidants.

~,~,~,~


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

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John struggled to open his eyes, trying to remember what had happened. When he finally convinced them to open, he found himself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. Not infirmary then. He blinked a couple times, then it all came rushing back and he gasped out Teyla's name, scared out of his mind that he was too late to do anything. He forced himself up, falling to the floor when his legs wouldn't support him. He reached out to the bed and worked his way back up to standing. When he felt like he could take some steps, he tottered towards the door, sweeping his hand over the box that should have opened the door. Somehow, he wasn't all that surprised when it didn't cooperate. Angry, he beat his hands on the door. "Let me out of here!" He tried to shout, the words coming out more of a whisper. "Teyla…"

He leaned his head against the door, feeling the familiar hum of the city in his head. Reaching out, he sought the comfort and calm she could normally give him. Today, it wasn't working. He thought 'open' and could feel the city trying to comply, but something was wrong. He smashed his hand against the door in frustration. He was afraid for Teyla and had to get out of here before Hanson did anything to her. He began to make his way around the room, looking for anything that could help him, stumbling when the dizziness became too much. He was all the way across the room from the door when it swished open and Ruth Hanson came in. She stopped and her jaw dropped open, having fully expected to find him still out cold.

"John, darling, what are you doing out of bed? You should be resting." She started towards him and he moved back, trying to figure out what was going on. "Sweetheart, what's wrong?"

He stood still for a moment, working it out in his head, feeling like it was full of cotton wool, finally remembering the words she'd said just after she'd injected him with something that had knocked him out for who knew how long. He wanted to rail at her, tell her she was delusional but something held him back. He thought about what she'd said about getting rid of Teyla and gritted his teeth, not knowing if she'd already carried out her threat or if Teyla were safe for the moment. Finally coming to a conclusion, he knew he would have to play along so that she wouldn't drug him again. He needed to be clearheaded and get out of here. "What…what happened? Why am I here?" He asked quietly.

"Oh darling, I had to drug you in order to break that alien witch's hold over you. I'm sorry, but it was necessary."

He held himself back, forcing himself not to stiffen, not to attack her. "Who are you talking about?"

"Why, Teyla, my darling."

He snorted a laugh he was as far from feeling as possible, sending off a wave of dizziness and nausea that he fought down desperately. "Teyla? What are you talking about? She's merely a means to an end. Without her, the rest of the backwards worlds we visit, wouldn't accept us."

"It certainly didn't seem like that." She was frowning, not convinced.

He laughed again, prepared this time for his body's reaction and swallowed the bile trying to force itself up his throat. "Well, I can be nice when I have to be. Truthfully I find her a bit too…earthy…for my tastes. I prefer someone more educated." He smiled at her flirtatiously, but the words just about stuck in his throat, knowing that Teyla was one of the smartest people he knew. Maybe not book smarts, but people smarts. He forced his thoughts away from that, afraid he wouldn't be able to continue this farce if he didn't.

Ruth smiled, happy to hear that her fears were unfounded. "You're very good then, it seemed like the two of you had recently…connected."

He fisted his hands, keeping the truth from his voice. "Hell no. You have no idea how hard it is to pretend to be interested in her when it's someone else who's caught my eye." He walked a little closer to her, only staggering once and then looked down, pretending to be abashed at what he'd revealed. She was overwhelmed with what she was hearing.

She melted into him and he put his arms around her, holding her close. He whispered into her ear the words that he was so far from feeling. "Can I hope that you feel the same way?"

"Oh darling, of course I do." She smiled up at him and he forced himself to smile back. She looked at him coquettishly and closed her eyes, her head lifted to his. He swallowed hard against his revulsion and lowered his lips to hers, trying to imagine it was Teyla he was kissing. When she tried to push him back towards the bed, he resisted. "What's wrong darling?" She asked.

"This isn't how I pictured it. I wanted to wine and dine you. I wanted our first time to be special. It's what you deserve."

She smiled brilliantly up at him and he saw the madness in her eyes. Suddenly, he found himself feeling sorry for her. That was until the thought of her hurting Teyla intruded on the moment. "I know you don't like Teyla my love…" just barely able to get the words past his lips. "…but Atlantis needs her, at least for the moment." She pulled back and stood with her hands on her hips and he worried he'd overdone it. He smiled. "After all, it takes a savage to know a savage."

She relaxed and the smile was back. "I guess I can see that. Now that I know it was all an act, maybe I can leave her alone. If she survives what I've already given her, I won't do anything further." He struggled not to strangle her, trying hard to pretend not to care.

"Whatever. I don't want to talk about her anymore. I want to talk about us." He leaned down and kissed her again, putting everything into it he was able to and she responded as he'd hoped. When he lifted his head, she was staring up at him dazedly. "What do you say we get out of here and go somewhere more…congenial?"

She frowned and stepped back. "No, I think we need to wait a little while longer. There are people looking for you." John felt a wave of relief as she walked backwards, heading towards the door. He forced himself not to follow her, knowing that he wouldn't be able to reach her before she was out the door, not in his condition. She reached the door and swiped it open. "I'll be back soon, my love." The door closed behind her and he staggered to it, swiping his hand over the box, hoping she either hadn't had time to sabotage the door or hadn't felt the need to this time. However, this time he got no response, same as before. He hit the door in frustration once again, but at least she hadn't drugged him this time and he had most of his wits about him. He went back to his interrupted inspection of the room, looking for any way out, landing on his knees once or twice with the residual effects of whatever drug she'd given him, effects that didn't seem to be wearing off, at least not as soon as he needed. He investigated some more, having no intention of still being here when her crazy ass showed up again.

He stopped in front of the windows and remembered the quarantine when he'd broken out of the room he and Teyla were locked in and climbed the side of the tower. He craned his head and looked up, it was further than the last time and he was dizzy as a result of her drugs, he doubted he'd make it ten feet before he fell. He looked down and hesitated. They were close to the water and he wondered how cold it was right now and how long he could survive in it. The East Pier was visible and, under normal circumstances, he was sure he could swim that distance easily. This wasn't normal circumstances, however, and it was starting to get dark. He wondered if he should just wait to see if someone found him or until he was feeling better. The only problem was what if she drugged him again and he wouldn't put it past her to do just that. Memories of Mandy floated through his head, morphing into her screaming in pain while a faceless man hurt her. He shook it to make the images stop and put a hand out to the wall as the dizziness flared up. Now was not the time. He finally decided the chance of escape was worth it, _Teyla_ was worth it, worried that Hanson would change her mind and go after her. He looked around for something to break the window with. Finding a small stool, he picked it up and hefted it his hand. It wasn't overly heavy, but it was sturdy and just might work.

He tilted his neck one way and then the other, trying to work the kinks out, judging his recovery from the drugs to be enough for a short swim. He lifted the stool and swung it at the window. It bounced off but left a small crack as he fell to his knees, not as recovered as he'd thought. A stinging in his upper right arm made him reach up his left to rub it, noticing the bandage wrapped around his bicep for the first time. He frowned, knowing its location meant something but he couldn't think straight. Finally it came to him, his sub-q transmitter. She must have removed it, making it less likely that Ronon and a squad of marines were about to break him out, meaning it was up to him to get himself out of this. He grimaced and looked up, trying to determine the damage he'd inflicted on the window. The crack was smaller than he'd hoped. Still, it _had_ cracked. Heartened, he stood up and swung again and again, falling every few hits and forcing himself up, until finally, it broke. Throwing the stool down, he tottered carefully to the window, cleared as much of the remaining pieces of glass from the bottom as he could and threw a leg out, finding no ledge to stand on. He'd have to jump into the water and he paused, wondering if he were just about to commit suicide, hearing Rodney's voice in his ear calling him an idiot and every other derogatory word that would communicate his derision for the step he was about to take. Then he heard Hanson calmly talking about getting Teyla out of the way and he couldn't just sit here, waiting to see what happened. Taking a deep breath, he pulled his other leg through the window until he was sitting on the sill and then threw himself out and away from the walls of the city, gasping when he hit the freezing water hard. He struck out for the East Pier, his limbs starting to lose feeling the longer he was in. The more he swam, the further away the pier looked.

~,~,~,~

Lorne entered the open door to the botany lab and carefully looked around. Katie was working with her back to him and hadn't noticed his entry. He cleared his throat and she jumped. Turning around, she smiled, although she held her hand to her heart. "Major Lorne, you startled me. What can I do for you?"

"Is Dr. Hanson here?"

She frowned. "No, she left about a half hour ago and didn't say where she was going."

"Good. Look, Dr. Brown…"

"Katie, please Major."

"Evan." He stopped, not sure how to proceed but Katie beat him to it.

"Did Ruth do something?"

"Why do you ask?"

"There's just something about her that…isn't right." She blushed a little, not used to voicing her opinions, something her engineer was helping her with.

"Yeah, about that." He paused and then blurted it out. "We think she poisoned Teyla and did something to John. We can't find him anywhere and, when we tracked his sub-q, found it in the ocean in a specimen container this department uses."

Katie was shocked. She knew there was something wrong with Ruth but never thought she'd go that far. "While most of us look at the plants we gather as a possible source of cures for various illnesses, Ruth always seemed more interested in the negative aspects, like poison or debilitating drugs. What can I do to help?" She remembered giving John flowers for Teyla and how grateful he'd been. She hated to think it might all be over so quickly. "Is…is Teyla okay?"

"She's holding her own and Doc Beckett is hopeful she'll recover. Look, we're planning on following Dr. Hanson to see if she can lead us to John. Maybe you can say something to her that would make her want to go see him? The longer we wait, the more worried we are that she'll lose it and do something to him."

"Or course, anything I can do, I will."

Lorne reached out his hand and took hers. "Thanks Katie." They both went silent when Ruth stepped through the door and stopped in shock. Playing along, Katie quickly removed her hand from Lorne's and pretended to be embarrassed at getting caught with the Major.

"Ruth, um, I didn't expect you back so soon. Evan…Major Lorne…was just telling me that Teyla has fallen ill and Colonel Sheppard is missing."

"Really?"

"Yes, very mysterious."

Lorne took the opportunity to take his leave. "Katie, I mean, Dr. Brown. I'll see you later?"

Katie nodded and pretended to watch Lorne leave with much more interest than she felt, although she might not be an uninterested as she hoped. She knew Ruth was watching her and turned to her. She leaned forward and whispered to the woman. "Evan was telling me that there is some suspicion that Colonel Sheppard is responsible for Teyla's falling ill. Can you believe it?" She made it sound like she was passing on gossip. "I hear there's an all-out search for him right now. I hope he didn't do it but if he did, I wonder why? Do you think he made a move on her and she turned him down? Maybe threatened to go to Mr. Woolsey?"

Ruth was worried. She'd never thought further than getting John away from Teyla. Never thought that maybe they'd think he'd done something bad. She felt an overwhelming urge to go to him. "I have no idea what to think Katie. If you'll excuse me? I just remembered I left some things in my quarters that I need." She turned and hurried from the room. Outside, Lorne watched her go and carefully followed her, quietly letting the rest of the team in on the development. He'd have to give Katie kudos on her acting ability when he saw her next.

"Rodney?" Lorne whispered into his ear piece.

"Yeah."

"We're on the move."

"Ok, I have your transmitter on the sensors. How far in front of you is Hanson?" While most of the military had had the transmitters surgically implanted, not many of the scientists had. Certainly not to those who weren't assigned to an away team, such as Hanson.

"About fifty feet."

"Good, good." Lorne could hear tapping through the radio. "Ah ha! Gotcha. Ok Lorne, we have both of you on sensors now. Keep following her but if she gives you the slip, we'll still have her."

Lorne wanted to protest that the botanist wouldn't get away from him but bit his lip as the direction they were heading in raised a red flag, and he asked instead. "What if she gets into a transporter? I won't be able to get in with her without giving it away that she's being followed and the transporters don't tell you where it dropped off its last passenger." He continued to follow her, wondering where she was going, hoping it would lead them to Sheppard.

"Already have that covered, Major. The Ancient's sensors were designed to track people within Atlantis. With so many transporters available, they made sure they could track anyone, anywhere, regardless of how they moved around the city. We used it to track Sheppard when he was mutating into a bug."

"Sounds paranoid but it's good news because she just got into one." The doors closed and Lorne sprinted up to it, the need for stealth gone.

"Still got her. Okay, she just got off on level 3, section D."

"Are you sure? There's nothing down there. It's only recently been cleared for you guys to come down and find out if there's anything worthwhile lying around."

"What better place to hide someone then? No one around yet has the military stamp of approval? Somewhere unpopulated that would be relatively safe?"

Lorne nodded his head, then realized McKay couldn't see him. "Yeah, makes sense."

"By the way? Ronon is pissed that you decided to track Hanson without him. He's just got here and is pacing behind me and Radek right now." Lorne heard a low growl come through the radio. McKay's voice was distant as he was obviously talking to someone in the room with him. "Don't look at me, Conan. It's not our fault you were playing nursemaid to Teyla when Lorne decided to play Sherlock Holmes." Lorne heard the sound of flesh hitting flesh. "Ow! That hurt you Neanderthal!"

"Uh, guys?"

"What?"

"Focus?"

"What? Oh, yes, yes, focus."

"Let me know when she gets far enough ahead that I can use the transporter to that level."

"That would be right about…now! She just turned a corner and won't be able to see you even if she looks back."

"Great, I'm on my way." Lorne stepped into the transporter and selected the proper location. Seconds later, the door opened on a different corridor. He stepped out warily, his hand hovering over his sidearm. "I'm here, is she still moving?"

"Yup, head down the corridor and take your first left, she's already around another bend so won't see you. Then take your third right. Wait! She appears to have stopped moving, so be careful. "

"On my way." Lorne soundlessly and slowly walked down the corridor, hugging the wall just in case. He took the turn and found no one in front of him as he'd been promised. He was just about to ask McKay for further directions when he heard a scream.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Giving up all pretense of following quietly, he loped down the corridor and shot around the corner at the third right. The second door on the left was open and he could hear Dr. Hanson yelling. He skidded into the room, his weapon up and aimed, only to find her trashing it. The room that was empty of anyone except the woman who hadn't even noticed his arrival. Taking advantage of her distraction, he did his own perusal of it. It appeared to have been set up as a bedroom but Hanson was flinging things around with wild abandon while yelling at the top of her lungs.

"No! He's mine! He's mine! Where is he? What have you done with him? You can't have him!" She screamed out the words, finally settling on…"He's mine, he's mine, he's mine…." over and over.

Lorne wondered who she was talking to. He was about to ask when she was hit with a red bolt of energy and crumpled to the ground. Turning, he found an angry Satedan staring at him. Ronon must have set out as soon as McKay found out where she'd stopped, taking the transporter closest to the Control Room.

"Uh, don't you think you should have waited until she told us what she did with Sheppard?" Lorne was angry. Hanson was their only link to wherever she had John and now she was out cold, probably for hours.

Ronon lifted an eyebrow and pointed to the wall of windows with his gun. Lorne turned and noticed for the first time that one of them was broken. He ran to it and looked up, wondering if the Colonel would try his Spiderman stunt again. There was no sign of anyone on the side of the tower and his stomach cramped a little. He looked down at the water sloshing against the side of the city. It was dark and the only light on the water was that reflected from Atlantis, there wasn't even a moon tonight as it was hidden behind clouds. His heart sank as he thought of his commander and friend being so desperate that he would take a chance with the freezing water and darkness. He lifted a hand to his radio to finally respond to the frantic calls of Dr. McKay asking if they'd found him yet. "Doc? We found Hanson. It looks like she had the Colonel here but he's gone."

"Gone? Gone where?"

"Out the window."

"He's trying to climb the tower again?" McKay's voice rose to truly squeaky volume by the end.

"No, it looks like he took his chances in the water."

"Why would he do that? It's freezing and it's dark and who know what's in there! There could be any number of Colonel eating monstrosities under the surface!"

"I don't know why he chose that out McKay, I'll be sure to ask him when we find him."

Ronon finally spoke. "If she let it slip that she was going after Teyla, Sheppard wouldn't wait for rescue, he'd want an immediate way out, no matter how dangerous."

Lorne sighed. "If John had only waited a bit longer, this would all be over."

"It's not in his nature to wait to be rescued. His nature is to do the rescuing, even if it's himself that he rescues."

"Maybe, but he may also have signed his death warrant. The water's freezing and who knows what condition he was in when he did his Aquaman impression."

"Who's Aquaman?"

"I thought Sheppard and McKay had introduced you to all the DC super heroes?"

"Looks like not all of them."

McKay's voice broke in. "If you two are done discussing comic books, maybe we could make an attempt to, oh, I don't know, find Colonel Sheppard?"

"We're on it McKay. Send two guards down to this room to take possession of Hanson. She's to go to the brig until we have the base psychologist talk to her. I don't want there to be any possibility that she gets anywhere near the Colonel or Teyla again." He heard murmuring on the other side.

"Radek has relayed your command. The guards should be there in just a few minutes."

"Good." He turned to Ronon. "We're going to need a jumper with search lights to see if we can find John. You stay here with Hanson and wait for the guards." He realized he was talking to air and then heard a splash. He sighed and ran back to the window in time to see the man's head pop up from under water. He shouted down. "You crazy bastard!"

Ronon merely waved and struck out in the most likely direction his friend had gone, the East Pier. Lorne swore a few more times and then turned back to the room. He didn't want to wait for the guards, his gut telling him every second counted. His eyes narrowed as he pulled the sheet off the bed. Using his KA-BAR knife, he tore some strips off. He flipped Hanson over and quickly tied her hands and feet and then tied her to the heavy bed. At the last moment, he cut off one more strip and gagged her. He gave her a cursory glance and then hurried from the room, talking into his headset as he went.

"Lorne to Cadman." Cadman was duty officer again tonight.

"Cadman here sir."

"I need a jumper readied. Warm blankets, scuba gear, lights, any water rescue gear we have."

"Yes sir." She paused. "Sir?"

"Yes Cadman?" He huffed as he ran for the transporter at full speed.

"Sir, there's rumors going around the base that the Colonel hurt Teyla and is now in hiding. That can't be true, can it?'

Crap, they hadn't really needed Chuck's rumor mill to flush Hanson out, Katie had done that all by herself. Still, he was impressed with how quickly the rumors had spread. "No, Cadman, it's not true. We've got the person who hurt Teyla in custody. She's also responsible for the Colonel's disappearance. Unfortunately, we were too late to rescue Sheppard from her, he took matters into his own hands."

"Are you saying he's in the _water_? That's why you want the jumper kitted out like that?" Belatedly she added. "Sir."

Lorne sighed. "Yup, that's why. Now we can add Ronon to that list. Crazy Satedan went into the water after John."

Cadman snorted. "Can't say I'm surprised. Jumper will be ready when you are sir. We'll find them! Cadman out."

Lorne entered the transporter and keyed his radio for McKay again. "McKay? I need…"

"Where have you been? I haven't been able to raise you or Ronon!"

He sighed as he told the story a second time. "Ronon went into the water after the Colonel. I've got Hanson secured for the guards. Cadman is getting a jumper ready for water rescue. I'm heading to the jumper bay now."

"You need to hurry, there's a storm coming in and it's tracking towards us fast."

"What the hell else can happen?" Without pausing he continued. "Please don't answer that."

He punched the light for the exit closest to his destination. "Oh, and tell Chuck he can stop the rumors about the Colonel, that I'm impressed with his network and that we need to talk when this is all over." The doors opened and he sprinted out at a full run. Time was passing too quickly and the more they wasted, the better the chance that the Colonel really would be dead this time.

~,~,~,~


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

~,~,~,~

Ronon struck out towards the East Pier, Lorne's words ringing in his ears. He may be a crazy bastard but he wasn't going to leave Sheppard out here alone. He owed the man too much. As he slowly swam, his head swiveled, looking for any sign of life in the water. He was in for a little over fifteen minutes when he noticed the cold had started to slow him down and that the wind and waves had picked up. He looked up and it was so dark, he could barely see the storm clouds gathering overhead. His extremities were growing numb and he began to worry. He was only slightly over half way to the pier and he hadn't caught a sight of his friend. He swam a few more yards and thought he saw something in the trough of a wave. Correcting course, he headed to where he was sure he'd seen it. The closer he got, the higher his hopes got. When he was about fifteen feet away, he knew it was Sheppard. The man was struggling to swim forward but was making little to no headway. It wasn't worth wasting the energy to yell to try to get his attention, the wind would make it a useless endeavor. The adrenaline of finding the man alive renewed his strength and he redoubled his efforts.

He was almost there when Sheppard went under and didn't resurface. "No! So not happening! We're too close Sheppard!" He shouted and then dove under, the darkness underneath the water giving him no clue as to where the man was. His sense of direction told him he was in right about the place where he'd last seen him. He dove down a little further and his fingertips touched something. His lungs screaming for air, he went further down instead of up. With a last burst, his hands found Sheppard and he grabbed hold of his shirt, turned and headed for the surface. When he finally reached it, he was starting to see black spots in his vision and he dragged in a gulp of air, coughing as he got a bit of water with it. He pulled Sheppard up and turned him on his back.

"Sheppard? Sheppard, can you hear me?" He got no response and shook the man a little. "Come on buddy, you can't give up now!" He pushed his fingers into the man's neck and felt a pulse, weak and faint. He had to get him out of the water, as soon as possible. Dragging him behind, he got his bearings and headed towards the pier again. Pulling Sheppard's dead weight while trying to swim for both of them, tired him even further and his progress slowed as the weather worsened. He dug deep and found the reserve to continue. What felt like hours later, he bumped up against the pier and then moved towards his right, feeling the walls for the ladder he knew was there. When his hand finally found it, he realized he didn't have the strength remaining that he would need to pull both himself and Sheppard out of the water and he certainly wasn't going to let go of the man. He could only hope that someone was on their way. With that thought, the skies opened up and a heavy rain began to fall.

~,~,~,~

Lorne reached the jumper bay to find a small army of people climbing all over Sheppard's favorite jumper. He saw Cadman in the middle of it, barking out orders. When she noticed him, she saluted as she said. "We're just about ready, sir. You just need to decide who's going with you. Everyone here wants to go." Lorne looked at the thirty or so people staring at him and felt a swell of pride as he realized that not all of them were military and included a mixture of both male and female. The people on this base were a good group.

"Okay, listen up! I need anyone who has scuba experience to step forward." Nine of the men and three of the women did so. "Good, now, anyone with water rescue experience?" Five held up their hands, Hank Kline among them. He'd heard about the Colonel being missing through the grapevine, along with the idea that he'd had something to do with Teyla's attack, that part of the rumor being met with derision by anyone who'd listened. When he'd heard for a fact that his CO was out in the water and that Lorne was launching a rescue operation, he'd been one of the first ones to show up in the bay.

"Okay, you five, you're with me. Suit up while we're in the air."

"Major Lorne, you'll need a medic." Said Sgt. LaCroix, one of those not chosen. Lorne could have slapped himself for not thinking of needing medical personnel on board, wondering if he should ask Beckett or Keller to join the mission but then figured they didn't have the time to spare. Grateful she had suggested it, he nodded, and the woman saluted. The six turned and ran into the jumper, Lorne right behind them.

"Sir?" Cadman's voice stopped him and he turned around to look at her. "Bring them home." He nodded once and went inside, hitting the control for the back hatch as he ran by. She stood there and watched as the hatch slowly moved, only turning away once it was fully closed, to find the rest of those who hadn't been chosen still standing behind her. All stood and watched the jumper as it left its dock and began the ascent out of the city, heading into the storm that had begun to rage outside. They watched until it disappeared from view and then every one of them silently headed to the control room to hear how the rescue operation was going. Once they arrived, they found the gate room more crowded than expected as scientists and military alike began to wander in, the news that Sheppard was missing, possibly out in the ocean somewhere, in the middle of the worsening storm with a rescue in process, having spread like wildfire.

McKay and Zelenka were up at the consoles, manning the scanners and talking with the jumper. Cadman made her way to the front and up the stairs. "Rodney?"

"What?" Rodney looked up and realized who it was. "Sorry, what do you need, kinda busy here."

"Would it be possible to put the radio on city wide? There's a lot of people pulling for the Colonel to be found and brought home alive, along with Ronon."

McKay looked at Woolsey who was standing behind him. Richard hesitated and then nodded his assent. McKay turned back and flicked a switch and the sound of Lorne's voice filled the city. "Atlantis, this is Jumper One. We are in the air and beginning a grid search. The weather is going to be an issue. Visibility is not good and getting worse. We're starting a scan for Ronon's sub-q now."

"Jumper One, this is Atlantis, Godspeed." Rodney replied. He looked up to find everyone staring at him in astonishment. "What?"

"Nic Rodneyho, to bylo hezké." Radek patted him on the shoulder, his emotions getting the best of him once again.

"What?"

"Sorry, sorry, I meant to say was very nice."

"Oh, well, why didn't you just say that then?"

Radek just sighed and shook his head. They both turned back to the laptop opened in front of Rodney and watched the sensors track the jumper back and forth across the water, as well as keeping an eye on the sensors as it tracked the front that was now directly overhead. Fifteen minutes went by without a word being spoken on either side when Lorne's voice finally erupted into the city. "Atlantis, this is Jumper One. We have a positive reading on Ronon's transmitter. He's right next to the East Pier. Divers are ready to enter the water when we get close enough."

"Roger Jumper One."

On board the jumper, Lorne maneuvered it over where the scanner said Ronon was, constantly adjusting the inertial dampeners to account for the bad conditions. He worried that rescue from the air might not work with all that wind and choppy ocean. Kline opened the back hatch, laid down on his stomach and shimmied out to the edge, hanging over the lip. He keyed his radio. "Major Lorne, I see them! Ronon has the Colonel and they're hanging onto the starboard side ladder. We need to hurry, the waves are battering them against the walls and I'm not sure how long Ronon can hold on."

"Roger that. Prepare for entry."

"Roger that." Kline shimmied back and joined his fellow divers. He and one other, by the name of Wilhelm Schmidt, a German Naval lieutenant, had drawn the long straws to be allowed to jump into the water to help their two men. They bumped fists, quickly and efficiently pulled on their flippers and masks, having already pulled on their wet suits during the trip out, ready in seconds to jump out of the back of the ship into the cold, dark waters.

"Divers, you have a go!" Lorne said.

Kline and Schmidt each took a deep breath and then jumped out and away from the jumper deck.

"Atlantis, divers away." Lorne said. There was a collective gasp from those waiting but no one said a word, engrossed in the life and death struggle going on outside their walls.

The two divers splashed down about fifty yards from where Hank had seen the two men. Any closer would have been too dangerous in these conditions. Surfacing, they began to swim towards the pier, the waves pummeling them, feeling the cold even through their wet suits. Between one wave and the next, the ladder was suddenly empty. Kline looked wildly around, finally seeing Ronon a few yards away from the wall, frantically trying to get back while not losing hold of Sheppard. He used hand signals to tell Schmidt where they were and the man nodded. They struck out in that direction, losing sight of the two men each time a higher wave came between them. After what seemed like an eternity, they finally reached them. Hank tried to pull Sheppard away from Ronon, who fought him until he realized what was happening. Slowly, somewhat reluctantly, he released his hold on the Colonel. Hank took him into his arms, alarmed at the lack of movement. Schmidt maneuvered up to Ronon and waited until the man registered his presence. Carefully, he wrapped an arm around the Satedan and felt how tense he was. He was actually alarmed when the man suddenly and completely relaxed in his grip, causing him to almost lose his hold on the big guy.

Hank looked up to the jumper, holding onto the Colonel, buffeted by the waves and watched as the remaining men fed out a line with a harness attached, both blowing wildly in the now nearly gale force winds. They could only hope it would stay more stationary once it reached the water or they'd never be able to grab hold of it. When it finally hit the water, he dragged Sheppard over to it and reached out, only to miss it when a wave struck him from behind. Taking a deep breath, he tried again and missed. He felt Sheppard slipping away and quickly readjusted his hold. When the harness came his way again on a wave, he reached out desperately. This time he was able to make his grab for it. Wrestling the dead weight of the Colonel into it in the rain, wind and waves, was something he quickly decided he never wanted to do again. When he finally had him secure, he reached up and tugged on the rope. Slowly, it was winched up towards the light spilling from the back of the jumper, the man's limp body swinging in the wind. He held his breath until the others were able to grab the Colonel's body and it disappeared inside.

"Atlantis, this is Jumper One. We have Colonel Sheppard on board. Going back for Ronon." Across Atlantis, people held their breath.

The line was lowered again, and Hank now had two hands free to help grab the harness when it reached them. He snagged it on his second try and he and Schmidt had a much easier time manhandling an awake and cooperative Ronon into it. Reaching up, he tugged the rope and the winch began to pull Ronon from the water, his extra weight keeping it from swinging as wildly as it had with Sheppard. When he reached the lip of the hatch, it took three men to pull the sodden ex-runner into the jumper even with his help.

"Atlantis, this is Jumper One, we have both of them!" Lorne said. A cheer went up around the city. Back outside in the water, a relieved Hank and Wilhelm high fived each other and waited for the harness to be lowered for them. They both made short work of getting into it and being lifted back to safety. Inside the jumper, things were not going as well. The medic worked frantically over Sheppard while a bedraggled Ronon looked on.

"Damn it, his temp is down to 86, he's hypothermic! We need to get him out of these wet clothes and wrapped in one of the emergency blankets, now!" While the others worked on stripping Sheppard, LaCroix found some heat packs, activated them and wrapped them in field bandages.

Ronon watched with a frown. "Why are you doing that? Wouldn't it be better to put those directly on him?"

"No, we don't want to burn his skin."

"A burn will heal, he needs to warm up now!"

"I know that Ronon, but warming him up too quickly can lead to heart arrhythmia. We need to avoid that at all costs!" She placed the wrapped packs under the Colonel's armpits as the rest of the men finished getting the wet clothes off him and wrapping him in the blanket. Hank reached out to start chafing the Colonel's hand that was closed to him. "Hank, stop! We need to warm his torso first. Warming his extremities first can lead to shock!" Hank raised his hands and stepped back quickly, scared that he might have done more harm than good.

LaCroix leaned over when she realized the Colonel's chest had stopped moving, she leaned over the man's lips and felt no breath. "Crap, he's not breathing!" She pulled the blanket back down and began chest compressions, alternating with breathing for her CO. The rest looked on with consternation until the first gasp that came from the man on the floor. LaCroix quickly rolled him on his side as the water he'd aspirated came back up. When he was done, the medic rolled him back, checking his vitals again. "Okay, he's back but still unconscious. We need to get him to the infirmary asap! Major, ask for an emergency medical team to be waiting!"

"Already done." Lorne called from the cockpit. "ETA is less than two minutes." No one had noticed the Major leave and sit back down in the pilot's chair, talking quietly with command as he guided the jumper back to the bay. The two minutes it took to dock the jumper back on Atlantis felt like hours to those in the back, watching the almost undetectable rise and fall of Sheppard's chest. Ronon had stripped and allowed himself to be wrapped in another blanket, his total focus being on his friend. When they landed, the medical team, with Dr. Keller and Dr. Beckett leading them, was ready and waiting. The Colonel was swiftly transferred to the gurney and whisked away to the infirmary, LaCroix running alongside and filling Beckett in on what had been done so far.

Ronon made to follow but was stopped by Dr. Keller who insisted he get checked out. The big Satedan gave his best glare but Jennifer didn't back down. "Come on Ronon, you'll be in the infirmary with him, just let us examine you as well. You were in that cold water for a long time too and I can already see bruises forming. Let us do our job!" He frowned and then nodded, used to the human's way of doing things. Arguing would only waste time. She pointed to another gurney and the frown deepened.

"No, I can walk there, I don't need that!"

"You really want to traipse through the corridors of Atlantic dressed only in an emergency blanket?" Jennifer's left eyebrow rose as she looked the big man up and down. Ronon looked down at himself, having forgotten he'd stripped out of his clothes to get warm. He grunted and shook his head no. "Very well then, be a good soldier and hop up. We'll get you to the infirmary as quickly as possible."

Still glaring, Ronon did as he was told, not wanting to admit to feeling a bit rubbery on his feet or that he felt relief when a nurse pulled a heavy blanket up over him, the sensation of spreading warmth something he'd almost forgotten. At a much less frantic pace, the remaining medical team pushed his gurney towards the infirmary and his friend. When they entered, Ronon was disappointed that the privacy curtains were already drawn around the bed where his friend most likely was. He turned and looked for Teyla, frustrated at finding the curtains drawn around her as well. Jennifer noticed where his attention had wandered and patted him on the shoulder. "The last blood tests show that whatever she was given is still in her system and doesn't seem to be metabolizing. However, we're not seeing anything that indicates there will any long-term effects if we can counteract it. All her lab results are normal, liver, kidney, everything except her lungs and with the oxygen support she's getting, she's holding her own."

Ronon nodded and turned his attention back to where Beckett was working on Sheppard, ignoring the doctor and nurses poking and prodding him. He could hear voices from behind the screens but couldn't make out what they were saying. He trusted these people, they were the best medical people he'd ever met, but still….he worried. The infirmary doors whooshed open and he could hear McKay before he saw him.

"Where is he? Is he okay? What's going on?"

Jennifer sighed and patted Ronon on the shoulder, nodding at the nurse to continue the check up on the Satedan. She moved away and intercepted McKay who was steaming right towards the bed where Sheppard was being worked on. "Rodney."

"Jennifer, get out of my way, I need to see how he's doing! None of you will tell us anything!"

"That's because there's nothing to tell right now. He's alive and we're doing everything we can to help him."

"Rodney, why do we not go sit with Ronon while we wait?" Zelenka had come in with the strident Head of the Science Division, just as worried about the man he too called friend.

Rodney McKay felt like he'd been through the ringer. One of his best friends, a man he thought of as a brother, had gone missing. Then his sub-q transmitter had shown up in the water surrounding Atlantis, making him fear he'd really lost him this time. Then they found out there wasn't a body, only the device, leading him to worry that something had eaten his friend. Then they found out he'd been kidnapped by some delusional scientist who'd also poisoned Teyla. Just when he thought they'd found him, the fool hardy idiot had gone for an evening swim in the middle of a gale force storm. All in the span of less than twenty-four hours. They'd all listened as the medic on the jumper had said he wasn't breathing, listened as she worked to bring Sheppard back, finally succeeding. He didn't think he could take much more. "I just need to see him, to see that he's really alive." He whispered, and Jennifer reached out to take his hand, gripping it tightly. She cared for John as well and, while she wouldn't show it, was just as worried about him.

"The Colonel will pull through this, doc. He always does." Said a new voice behind him. McKay turned to find Lorne standing there.

"Yeah, he does. Until the time he doesn't." McKay responded, tired down to his bones. Lorne frowned at him but didn't say anything. He knew how close Sheppard's team was, something he envied on a regular basis. He also knew McKay and Sheppard were the unlikeliest of friends and that both worried excessively when the other was missing or hurt. Still, things were better now. He patted McKay on the shoulder, surreptitiously maneuvering the man towards the bed where Ronon sat, the same worried look on his face.

"Ronon, how're you doing?" Lorne asked.

"I'm fine. Can't say the same for these nurses if they don't leave me alone." Ronon said as he glared at the poor nurse. He was never happy to have a doctor or nurse trying to help him and he was batting away anyone who came close, much to the disgruntlement of said medical personnel. Lorne opened his mouth to say something when Carson emerged from behind the curtain around Sheppard. Instantly, all movement and talking stopped, all eyes on the doctor. He, in turn, smiled tiredly, used to the worry when one of their own was in danger.

"Carson?" Rodney asked.

"He's holding his own. His body temperature is up to 91, that's a huge improvement."

"Is he…is he going to be okay?" McKay asked hesitantly.

"I can't tell you that Rodney. We have no idea what Dr. Hanson gave him. He's still hypothermic, he swallowed ocean water which can lead to secondary drowning or pneumonia and we have no idea what kind of bacteria he may have picked up. He's also pretty bruised up."

"Secondary drowning? What the heck is that?"

"Secondary drowning is when enough water enters the lungs to cause a drop in blood oxygen levels. Death can occur anywhere between one and forty-eight hours later. The water may fill up some of the oxygen-rich pores of the lungs, reducing the lung's ability to oxygenate the blood as it passes through. From there, it can irritate the lungs' lining and fluid can build up, causing a condition called pulmonary edema."

"How likely is that?"

"Well, it's most common in children, but not unheard of in adults. My main worry though is…." He paused.

"What Carson?!" McKay's voice went up an octave.

"Brain damage. We have no idea how long John went without oxygen." He whispered back.

"Brain damage?" McKay's voice was almost nonexistent. "How…I mean, what are the odds?"

"I just don't know Rodney. Like I said, I don't know how long he was without O2. All we can do is wait and see. As far as the pneumonia or any possible bacteria goes, unfortunately, I can't treat him with anything because of the compound Dr. Hanson gave him. Any of our medications could interact badly with it, killing him surer than anything else."

Lorne spoke up. "Would it help if we could find whatever Hanson dosed John with?"

Carson looked at him. "Aye, laddie, it couldn't hurt. Although with Teyla, even having a sample, we couldn't come up with an antidote using the food Hanson dosed. A pure, undiluted sample would be a boon."

"On it." Lorne turned and marched out of the infirmary, determined to ransack Hanson's quarters and lab for anything that would help. Ronon threw off the blanket, determined to go with him but was pushed back onto his bed by Beckett.

"No, laddie, you stay here. We need to keep an eye on you and I think it would help John and Teyla if their team were here to support them." He blatantly played on their closeness and was relieved when Ronon nodded and sat back.

~,~,~,~,~

Lorne swiped open the door to Hanson's room and stopped short, his jaw dropping open. There were framed candid shots of Colonel Sheppard on almost every flat surface. He blinked and walked forward, picking one up. The picture was obviously taken in the mess hall and showed him laughing at something, completely unaware he was being photographed. Either no one was sitting with him or she'd cropped them out. He put it back and unconsciously wiped his hand on his pants leg. Trying to ignore them, he began methodically going through her room. When he got to the dresser, he took a deep breath, feeling like a voyeur. He opened the first one carefully, riffling through her clothes. By the third drawer he was no longer feeling the need to be neat. When he pulled out a man's t-shirt, he knew whose it was and just shook his head. He threw it back in the drawer, pretty sure the Colonel wouldn't want it back.

Frustrated at finding nothing, he ransacked the drawers to her desk. He closed them a little harder than needed and the bottom one bounced back with a clank. Kneeling, he pulled the drawer out, only now noticing that it was shorter than the ones above it. He reached in and felt around, finding a case pushed all the way to the back. He pulled it out and tried to open it but with no luck. It was locked, and he had no idea what the combination might be. He placed it carefully on the bed and finished his search, knowing he'd find nothing else but not wanting to take a chance. When he finished and was proven correct, he picked up the case and left the room, heading directly for the infirmary. He'd drop it off and then move on to her lab.

Three heads turned his way when he entered. Ronon was sitting up in bed with McKay and Zelenka sitting on chairs by his bedside. All three had been silently watching the curtained off area where Sheppard and Teyla were and silence wasn't something Rodney McKay was known for.

"Did you find something?" He asked, already reaching out for the case in the major's hands.

"Yeah, found this case hidden in her desk behind a false drawer." His tone made it obvious that wasn't all he found as he relinquished it.

"What else?" Rodney knew that look. He'd been around Lorne enough to know that something else had happened. Lorne shifted uncomfortably, not sure how much Sheppard would want him to share. "Out with it major!" Rodney commanded.

"Look, I'm not sure how weirded out John will get about this. You have to keep it to yourselves, at least until we talk with him." All three nodded. "Okay, turns out she has pictures of the Colonel all over her quarters and I found a man's t-shirt, one I'm pretty sure belongs to him, in one of her drawers."

"Eww."

"Yeah."

The curtain around Sheppard parted as Beckett and Keller exited and made their way over to them. They could just make out Marie hovering over John before the curtains closed again.

"Did I hear ye found something laddie?" Carson asked.

"Yeah, doc, I found a case that looks pretty promising, but it's locked, and we'll have to see if we can get Hanson to give up the combination." They all turned towards McKay when they heard a snick, to find him holding the now open case.

"Have you now added lock picking to your skill set, Rodney?" Jennifer tried to tease him.

She was surprised when he looked up from the case with a sickly look on his face. "No, I just tried the first thing that came to mind." He said quietly and stopped.

"What McKay?" Ronon asked, getting impatient.

"John's birthday."

~,~,~,~


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

~,~,~,~

Carson gently took the case from Rodney, opened it and examined the contents. There were more vials than he would have liked, each with different scientific notations on them. He looked up and nodded. "I'll do some analysis and see if I can determine which one was used for Teyla and which for John. This may go a long way towards helping us tae help them. Having the original plant would be even better." He nodded again, this time to himself and quickly made his way out of the infirmary, heading towards his workstation. Jennifer watched him go, not sure if he would appreciate her help or if he'd find her an annoyance.

"Jennifer?"

She looked back at the four faces watching her. "What Rodney?"

"Go help him. I know you want to and we'd all be grateful to have another set of eyes, especially yours."

She smiled at him. "Thanks." She reached up and kissed him, not worried about how it would look.

Rodney returned it fiercely and then pushed her away. "Go!"

She turned and practically ran after Carson. The four left behind looked at each other. Lorne cleared his throat. "I'm going to head to Hanson's lab. I might try and get Katie to help me out. She'd see anything out of place quicker than I."

"Katie?" Rodney gave Lorne a small smile that quickly faded as he remembered that Sheppard was probably fighting for his life. Teyla was holding her own but was still unconscious.

"You should be proud of her, she was quite the actress when Hanson caught us together, talking about our suspicions. We didn't even need Chuck to start those rumors. I'm going to the lab to see if I can find the plant the doc mentioned." Lorne said and turned to leave. Rodney nodded. He wasn't unaware of how accomplished Dr. Katie Brown was, just knew that they hadn't been compatible after all. Not like him and Jennifer. He felt a warmth in his chest as he thought about the woman he'd fallen in love with, maybe for the first time in his life, including his infantile infatuation with Colonel Samantha Carter. Someone who, somehow, felt the same way about him. A fact that he was sure no one who knew him would believe. If anyone could find out how to help Teyla and Sheppard, it was her and Carson. He watched Lorne leave the infirmary. He took a moment and reviewed his life, so different now than just a few years ago. Friends, _real_ friends, in the form of Carson, Sheppard, Teyla, Ronon, Zelenka and, dare he say it, Lorne. A girlfriend who knew all his faults and cared anyway. He was a very lucky man and, if anyone asked, yes, he'd give it all up to make sure Sheppard and Teyla were okay and got their chance. He settled in to wait with Ronon and Radek.

Carson looked up from the microscope he was working on when he heard footsteps. He turned to find Jennifer looking at him hopefully. "Have ye come tae help then, lassie?"

"If you wouldn't mind, Carson. I don't want to be in the way."

He knew she'd developed friendships here, maybe, from things she'd let slip, closer than anything she'd ever had back on Earth. He knew she and Teyla were thick as thieves and the relationship between her and Rodney should have shocked him, yet it didn't. The two of them were…a bit of the oddball in normal society. Way smarter than the average and usually on the outside looking in. They worked, clicked, whatever you wanted to term it. He also knew, from working with her, that she was smart, focused and very connected to her patients. He _should_ know, he was once one of them as she sought a cure for the degradation his cloning had caused. He wouldn't be here if it weren't for her and he found he would be more than happy to have her working alongside him.

"Pull up a microscope." He said and smiled gently at her. She returned it and settled in at the table with her favored machinery. The two of them were quickly involved in trying to figure out what had been used against their friends.

~,~,~,~

Lorne entered the botany lab, surprised to find Katie still there. It was long after usual working hours were over.

"Katie?"

She jumped and turned to him, feeling her pulse quicken a little at the sight of the military man now standing in front of her. She felt a little guilty that her engineer didn't engender the same feelings in her.

"Major…Evan. I'm sorry, you startled me. How are John and Teyla doing?" Like everyone else, she'd been listening to the drama played out over the city wide speakers as the jumper went to rescue the Colonel and Ronon, hanging on every word as she waited to hear if they were both okay.

"They're holding their own. Look, Katie, we need to see if Dr. Hanson kept anything here that might help us figure out what she gave them.

"Then, it's definite she was responsible?"

"Yeah, no doubt about it."

"I'm so sorry that someone from my department was instrumental in hurting Teyla and the Colonel. What can I do help?"

"Work with me go through her lab to see if there's anything there that would help? We found a case of drugs in her room that Carson is looking at. We're hoping it might help if he and Dr. Keller can find out which ones she used on them, but the original plant would help even more. I doubt we'll find anything here, she was careful. Still, we can't leave anything to chance." He knew she was seeing someone and felt a little sorry about that. His thoughts went back to his date with Celia and he thought it would have gone very differently with the woman in front of him, her warm brown eyes staring up at him. He squashed those thoughts.

"I'll do anything I can to help, anything."

"Thank you. Would you mind?" He swept his hand towards the different rooms. She nodded and led the way to Hanson's lab.

"I'll start on the left side, you start on the right?" Lorne asked. She agreed and began to search through her assigned side, Lorne starting on the other. They worked in companionable silence until Katie opened a cabinet and started moving things out of the way. The sound she made had Lorne turning towards her in question.

"Evan, this was brought back from one of the off-world missions to M34-871. We couldn't find any positive use for it, it's too poisonous. They were all supposed to be destroyed! This shouldn't be here."

"Well, then I guess we should take this to Beckett to see if it helps."

She nodded, and they left the lab together, never once thinking that she wasn't needed. When they got to the infirmary, Carson and Jennifer were nowhere to be seen but McKay, Zelenka and Ronon were by Teyla and Sheppard's beds. Someone had moved the privacy curtains as it was next to impossible to keep the five of them apart. Radek and Rodney were both sitting and working on laptops while Ronon leaned against the wall, watching over all his friends, asleep or awake. Lorne held up the plant he was carrying. "Docs?"

"Through there Major." Rodney barely looked up as he pointed in the direction where their two doctors were working. Lorne and Katie went through and stopped for a moment to watch them in action. They were both so focused on their microscopes, they didn't even notice the new arrivals. Lorne cleared his throat and had to suppress a smile when they both startled and turned their way, identical looks of surprise on their faces. Carson was the first to recover.

"What have ye brought us, laddie?" Noticing the plant Lorne was carrying.

"Katie…Dr. Brown…thinks this might be the plant that Hanson used to create the drugs she used on Teyla and John." Lorne held it out and both doctors nodded with enthusiasm.

"Aye, the drugs Dr. Hanson created will go a long way to discovering how to help Teyla and the Colonel but having the original plant may help us discover something in the ancient database that will help us counteract their effects more quickly." Carson reached out eagerly and took the plant, he and Keller putting their heads together over it, immediately forgetting the two standing there watching. With a shrug, Lorne turned to Katie and gestured that she proceed him out of the lab. Reaching the outer room where the others were still waiting, they were both grilled about their findings, but had nothing more to offer. They sat and joined the weary friends in their vigil.

~,~,~,~,~

In the lab, Beckett and Keller split their duties. Jennifer kept investigating the drugs they'd recovered from Hanson's room while Carson began searching the ancient database on the plant. He had more extensive exposure to it and would most likely have better luck finding a reference to it. The two worked through the next few hours without a break, neither saying a word except to the nurses who came in to keep them up to date on their two patients. Unfortunately, not much of the news was good. Both were still unconscious, and the Colonel was starting to show additional symptoms from the hypothermia and his near drowning, with the only good news being that the drugs in his system seemed to finally be metabolizing, which made sense as Hanson hadn't wanted to kill John. Judging it to be at a safe enough level, Jennifer ordered a strong dosage of antibiotics and increased oxygen treatment for him, while Teyla required nothing new as her condition remained unchanged.

When Carson finally found an entry he thought would be helpful, he waited to say anything until he was sure the plant was the same Hanson had had squirreled away in her lab. When all the parameters matched and he read the prognosis, his spirits lifted. The plant was poisonous but not fatal if the antidote could be synthesized and administered within three days. They still had time. He searched the database for a planet where the plant grew and his heart sank again. The only planet listed had only recently been overrun by the Wraith. He raised his head from his research and found Jennifer looking at him.

"You found something, didn't you?"

"Aye, lass, I did. This plant is definitely the one used on Teyla and there's an antidote, but the only world the Ancients recorded that the plant exists, is now a Wraith stronghold." Jennifer paled.

"What do we do?" She whispered.

"It's nae our call." Carson reached up and keyed his coms. "Mr. Woolsey?"

"Yes, Dr. Beckett? Do you have news?"

"Aye, we've found a plant that will provide a cure for Teyla." He paused.

"And the problem is?" Woolsey may be a lot of things, but he wasn't stupid.

"Please come down tae the infirmary and we'll brief you, along with the Colonel's team."

"On my way." Sometimes the IOA leader of the Atlantis expedition could surprise one. Rumor had it that the man had sided with SG-1 over the IOA back on Earth, on several occasions. Carson looked at Jennifer and tried to smile.

"At least we found something for Teyla, maybe we'll have a chance tae use it. John's recovery is dependent on our own medical knowledge." He couldn't hold the faux smile any longer, and Jennifer hung her head, whispering what he was pretty sure was a prayer to any deity that would listen. He understood, John was the heart and soul of the expedition and had saved them from destruction more than once. Without him, neither was sure they would survive the coming years. They certainly wouldn't have done so the previous six. If he were to survive this but Teyla were to die, all because of someone's obsession with him, Carson knew that the Colonel would blame himself and he wasn't sure what that would to do his friend. He stood up heavily and started to make his way to the infirmary. He turned when he realized she wasn't following, not really surprised to find her watching him with tears streaking down her checks.

"Ah, lassie, I'm so sorry."

"Carson, John and Teyla…they just found their way to each other after all these years! How is this fair?"

He reached out and pulled her up from her seat. Clasping both of her hands in his, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Life isn't fair, love, it never is. All we can do is take what's given tae us and hope. We're not done yet, they're both still alive and there's always hope."

Together, they made their way to the waiting room where the couple's friends looked to them with varying degrees of said hope.

~,~,~,~,~

Richard Woolsey made his way to the infirmary with measured steps. He wanted to run, he wanted to rail against the fates that had led them to this. He'd been leader of this expedition a little under two years. They'd faced many threats together and John Sheppard had been at the center of all their successes, including saving Earth from the super Wraith hive ship. His had been the strongest voice arguing that Atlantis belonged back in the Pegasus Galaxy, while the IOA had been adamant that it stay here to protect their own little corner of the universe. Eventually, cooler heads had prevailed and Atlantis had been sent home to Pegasus to fight the Wraith before they ever got close to Earth again.

He'd been pleased when John had told him about the change in his and Teyla's relationship. His romantic side was heavily buried after his divorce but would raise its head now and again. John's announcement had been one of those times. Now, he was faced with losing both of them to some scientist suffering from an obsession psychosis. He knew the people suffering from these types of illnesses were not always to blame for their actions, but he couldn't stop wishing that Dr. Ruth Hanson had never been born. Certainly, never been assigned to this outpost.

He stopped outside the infirmary and took a deep breath, calming himself. He could not allow his opinion that Colonel Sheppard was the key to the continuing success of this mission, to color his decisions. He could not risk other members to save one man. If there was one thing he knew, it was that John Sheppard would never approve of others risking their lives to save him. The fact that he would do it for another, was one of life's little ironies. The man's opinion of his worth was the polar opposite of everyone else living on the ancient city. John considered himself expendable, while most, with the notable exception of one Dr. Kavanagh, would heartily disagree. He stepped through the door and was disheartened by the sight that met him. McKay and Ronon looked exhausted. Zelenka, Lorne and, surprisingly, Dr. Katie Brown looked defeated. Doctors Beckett and Keller looked dismayed.

"Very well, people. Fill me in on the situation."

Carson spoke up. "Dr. Hanson derived two different drugs from the same plant she found on M34-871. One, which she administered tae Teyla through food and drink, was designed tae suppress the respiratory system, causing suffocation. Luckily, Teyla didn't ingest enough tae cause her death, though from the levels discovered in the food and water, that was exactly Dr. Hanson's intent. Instead, she's in a drug induced coma as her body fights it and it doesn't appear tae metabolize in the human body. As far as John goes, the dilution appears tae cause a drug induced susceptibility tae suggestion, similar tae scopolamine on Earth, most likely tae convince John that he wanted a romantic relationship with her. Knowing John, he resisted and tried tae make his way to safety by escaping the room she incarcerated him in. Unfortunately, with this version of the drug, there are side effects, such as dizziness and muscle weakness. Apparently, the Ancients developed similar drugs based on the plant, for what reasons the database didn't really detail. In both cases, it says that there's a counter agent."

Rodney interrupted. "Well, then what are we waiting for? Let's go get it!"

"Rodney….the only planet they listed where the plant grows, is a Wraith stronghold."

Ronon spoke up as Lorne and, surprisingly, McKay, said at the same time. "I'll go."

Woolsey sighed. "I can't let you go into a dangerous situation without careful thought, no matter whose life is at stake." He knew it would be an unpopular statement and wasn't surprised when Sheppard's team, along with his Second in Command and Zelenka, voiced their disapproval.

Carson spoke up. "Maybe, we can find this plant on another world. The ancient database is woefully out of date."

Katie had kept out of the conversation, knowing that Sheppard's team was close, waiting for them to find a solution, but, when they kept arguing, she decided to step in. "Is there any way the Botany department can help out?" She asked in desperation.

"Perhaps lassie. According tae what we've been able tae find, the plant we need is found on P53-927 and looks like this." He held out the tablet he was holding. Katie studied it and her face lit up.

"We went to that planet a couple of years ago! There were no Wraith there then and we brought back many samples. We have some of these in our hydroponic garden." All eyes turned to her with varying looks of hope and she blushed at being the center of attention and backtracked a little. "At least, I think we do."

"Let's go. Now." Rodney said, already turning towards the exit.

"Rodney, I don't think all of us need tae go. Perhaps Major Lorne can help Dr. Brown?" He had noticed a certain spark between the two and wasn't above helping it along, finding some good in a bad situation.

Lorne immediately nodded his approval, grabbed the tablet from Carson and the two hurried out of the room. Rodney turned back to Carson and Jennifer. "So, this plant could be used to synthesize a drug to help Teyla but what about Sheppard?"

"The drug she gave him is beginning tae wear off. Unfortunately, the aftermath of the Colonel's ill-advised evening swim in a storm while under the effects of it, are of more concern. His temperature finally came back up tae normal but, unfortunately, didn't stop there. He's now running a temperature and we're detecting rales in his lungs. We've started tae give him strong broad spectrum antibiotics. He also has a couple of cracked ribs from being smacked up against the pier by the waves." Ronon straightened up and looked guilty and Carson sighed. "If ye hadn't gotten him tae the pier, laddie, we'd be trolling the ocean floor for both yer bodies aboot now." The man subsided back on his wall, the guilt replaced once again by worry.

"What are his chances, Carson?" Rodney asked quietly.

"We're doing all we can Rodney, it's up tae John now. We know how strong he is and he has Teyla and Torren, as well as you lot, to come back tae." Carson turned to go back to his lab but stopped and looked back over his shoulder. "He's never given up before and I don't expect he'll start now. Try tae stay positive and just be here, for both of them." He continued on his way. Rodney sat down and picked up his laptop. Put it down and stood up again, beginning to pace the room.

"McKay!" Ronon grunted.

"What?" He turned to stare at his lone conscious teammate when it hit him that he could have lost Ronon too and he exploded. "What were you thinking about when you jumped into that water?! Did you really think we needed to worry about rescuing two of you instead of one?"

Ronon just smirked at him. At one time the scientist's words would have sent him into a red haze of fury. He'd been around him long enough by now to know that the man hid his caring, worry and fear behind snark and sarcastic remarks. When they'd first met, it never would have occurred to him that the two of them would become friends, but somehow, they had.

"I thought that Sheppard needed help and that I was the best one available to give it to him. I knew I could get to him, just like I knew you and Lorne would never give up on us and would get us out. Now sit down and stop that annoying pacing!"

"Huh." Was all McKay could think to say, as he plopped back down in his chair. Radek lowered his head to hide the smile that had appeared as he listened to the two unlikely friends declare their affection for each other in a way only they did. The smile wavered as he thought about why they were there.

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Lorne and Katie headed towards the Botany lab at something slightly less than a full on sprint. They skidded to a halt when they reached it and Katie led the way to the hydroponic garden. She headed to one section without even looking at the others and stopped in front of it. She held her hand out and Lorne handed her the tablet he was carrying without her having to ask for it, finding her surprisingly McKay like when in her element. She studied it again and then moved down to a row of plants that were thriving under the artificial grow lights. She held it up against the plant and even Lorne could tell it was the one they were looking for. They grinned at each other and he took a step closer and they both froze. 'Now's not the time.' Lorne thought to himself. 'But the time will come.' He knew she was seeing someone and wouldn't step on anyone's toes, but he couldn't shake the feeling that this was something he didn't want to ignore. Stepping back, he cleared his throat.

"This is it, Katie. We just need to get it to the infirmary."

"I'm not sure what part of the plant they'll need, so let's take the whole thing." If her voice was a little wobbly, she would put it down to the fast pace they had set, or the excitement of finding something that would help Teyla, not to the sudden thought that Evan had been about to kiss her. She turned and rummaged around, pulling out a pot and a small spade. Expertly, she dug around the roots and lifted the whole plant out of the soil. Placing it carefully in the pot, she gently tamped the soil down around the stem. Lorne watched her hands work with fascination. Who knew potting a plant could be so…sexy? He pulled himself up short, reminding himself once again that now was not the time nor was she free of romantic entanglements. When she was done, the two turned and raced back to the infirmary.

Once there, they didn't stop to talk, Lorne just gave a thumbs-up as they raced by to give the priceless plant to the ones waiting for it. Carson and Jennifer were expecting them and eagerly took it from Katie, already talking excitedly in medical jargon as they discussed how to create the antidote and started examining the plant. Forgotten, the other two watched for a moment and then took their leave, unnoticed. Back in the infirmary, they were met with a barrage of questions.

"Was that it? Was it the right plant? How long is it going to take?" McKay asked.

"Yes, yes and we don't know. The docs didn't share that with us but they're hard at work on it now." Lorne answered calmly, feeling benevolent towards his CO's teammate and a man he suddenly realized he counted as a friend, especially as it seemed they'd finally caught a break. That thought only lasted long enough for an alarm to sound on the machines by Sheppard's bed, to be followed by two nurses who pulled the privacy screen back around him. They heard only snatches of words, including high temperature, seizures and pneumonia.

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	10. Chapter 10

A/N – Sorry for the long delay on this one! Several illnesses in the family followed by a long awaited vacation in Aruba, then I had another story I needed to finish up! This one in just about complete and the last chapter should be up shortly.

A/N2 – I have no idea what Dr. Cole's first name was and none of the sites on google/Wikipedia listed her as anything other than Dr. Cole. I thought the actress, Caroline Cave, looked like a Miranda, so that's now her name in my SGA universe.

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Chapter 10

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The curtain around Sheppard's bed moved and all eyes focused on Dr. Miranda Cole as she stepped out, closing it behind her. She smiled, but more than one noticed that it didn't make it all the way to her eyes.

"John?" McKay asked quietly, gripping the tablet he'd been working on, his knuckles turning white.

"His temperature spiked from the infection, causing seizures. Normally this wouldn't cause it to happen in adults as it's more common in children. It's possible it's from a combination of things. We really don't understand the drug he was given, and it might have been a contributing factor. We gave him some Clonazepam and they've stopped." She paused. "For now."

"For now? What does that mean?" McKay sputtered.

"It means, Dr. McKay, that his temperature is still dangerously high. We've instituted cooling measures but that will only work for so long. We need to get this under control. Luckily, his latest blood work shows that the drug Dr. Hanson injected him with has dissipated. We were able to increase the antibiotic treatment as we no longer have to worry that the other drug will cause any unexpected, and dangerous, interactions." She sighed. "Right now, all we can do is wait."

"All we've been doing is waiting!" Ronon snarled.

Lorne lifted an eyebrow. "You've been hanging around McKay too long, Ronon."

"Hey! What does that mean?" McKay turned on Lorne, who raised a hand.

"I simply meant that you aren't always the most…patient person and Ronon seems to be channeling that right now."

"I'm a very patient person! I'm the epitome of patience!"

Several disbelieving eyes focused on him. "Well I am." He muttered under his breath.

They were saved from any further disagreements when Carson and Jennifer arrived. Everyone turned their attention on the two doctors, praying for some good news for a change. Carson raised his hand with a vial held in it.

"Jennifer synthesized the antidote for Teyla. It's been tested and looks like it should work." He didn't sound as excited as he should.

"Doc?" Lorne asked.

"While Jennifer was creating the antidote, I did some deeper digging intae the ancient database on the background of both drugs and was able tae find more information on them. They were well hidden. Both accounts were disturbing and were the work of one scientist. I'm still not sure if he was trying tae find a weapon against the Wraith or if he was just working towards his own agenda. The tests did not appear tae be…sanctioned by the council." He paused, not sure what he thought about the logs he'd read. The underlying impression he'd got was that the lead scientist was more interested in gaining advantages for himself, including removing several key people who opposed his type of work. Continuing, he said. "The one given tae Teyla, if enough is ingested, leads tae a very unpleasant death. As he found out when he tested on…human subjects." His disdain was clear.

"Human? You mean he tested on other Ancients?" Radek asked.

"No, he tested on non Lantean subjects. Supposedly, all were volunteers but there was nothing in the database that leads me tae believe the subjects understood the risk. None of the tests were done here on Atlantis. In fact, they appear tae have been conducted in secrecy on various worlds. The deaths from the full dosage were not easy ones. Basically, their autonomic nervous system shut down and the subject would suffocate tae death…and not quickly." He refused to call them patients. "Lower dosages led tae the persistent coma like state Teyla is in. If the lassie had eaten her whole meal…well, let's just say that we would nae be having this conversation right now. Only when these results were discovered, was an antidote created and even then, it was only effective if administered within a short time period. Past that and the subject never regained consciousness, remaining unresponsive until death." He also didn't add that he'd found several suspicious deaths on Atlantis at that time. Deaths he was pretty sure this man had caused and found a way to cover up, although he had no real proof.

He sucked in a deep breath. "The drug given tae the Colonel was even worse, if ye can believe it. Most of the test subjects had no ill effects from the initial dose, other than responding tae all commands with no volition of their own. That changed when they were given multiple doses, each when the prior one wore off. The number of doses tae reach that point varied depending on the individual, but the end result was that the effects were cumulative. At some point, the subject became incapable of doing even the simplest things for themselves, including eating or using the…facilities. If not commanded tae eat or relieve themselves, the subjects starved tae death, sitting in their own waste. There were a small group of test subjects who reacted very badly tae the initial dosage and died in extreme pain."

"He did test one Lantean subject, once he knew an individual dose was not _usually_ lethal, although I don't believe that subject had any idea he'd been experimented on. Other than the sedative effect, the Lantean subject was not controllable when he regained consciousness. This scientist then theorized that the ATA gene protected his unsuspecting subject. He didn't test it on any others tae see if the long-term effects would be any different, I would imagine because he feared being caught. Truthfully, I'm surprised he wasn't. It's conceivable the cumulative effects would hae been just as bad on them as they were on the other poor buggers he used."

"But he did continue to test on other humans?" Ronon asked, disturbed by more evidence that some of the Ancestors appeared to have so little concern for human life. He wasn't as enamored of them as Teyla was, but even so, they had been part of his childhood. He knew Teyla would see this as one more strike against the ones her people had revered for so long and that it would disturb her.

"Aye, he continued tae test on others. The experimentation only stopped when they abandoned the city tae return tae Earth. Who knows if he continued his work there?"

Lorne spoke up. "Sounds like way too much of a coincidence that Hanson happened to come up with the same two drugs. Do you think she found this in the database and followed their lead?"

Rodney poked at the tablet in his hands and spoke without looking up. "I know she did, and I know she knew the intended effect but maybe not the full end results."

"How can you know that?" Ronon asked.

"After the fiasco with Colonel Caldwell and the Goa'uld, Radek and I installed software that tracks all use of the Ancient database, with Elizabeth's approval. Every search leaves a log behind." Lorne opened his mouth to protest and Rodney held up a hand. "We don't review every search, it's there for the purpose of protection only. We get alerts when someone is poking around where they shouldn't. Like a botanist researching bombs." He looked up with a haunted look. "A botanist searching for files related to a specific plant, wouldn't have raised any red flags." He paused and looked from where John's bed was hidden, over towards Teyla's. "Maybe if it had…."

Jennifer placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "It's not your fault Rodney. There's no way any of us could have seen this happening. Even if you _had_ been alerted and confronted her about her search, I'm sure she would've told you she was just checking to see if her research had already been done so she wouldn't waste her time or to make sure she didn't make any of the same mistakes a Lantean scientist might have." He reached up and covered her hand with his, showing his appreciation for her support, although he didn't really feel any better.

"So, if she did read the logs, I can, in a way, understand the drug she gave Teyla, but not Sheppard. What if his human heritage had resulted in the same painful death? He may be the closest thing we have, but he isn't an Ancient, right? Or if his ATA gene was strong enough to protect him, then why take the chance? He wouldn't obey her, and she'd have one very irritable Colonel on her hands." Lorne asked.

"I said she knew the intended effect, I didn't say she did the amount of digging that Carson did. I doubt she had any idea that the drug she gave Sheppard would do anything other than make him do everything she asked him to. Had to be tempting." He remembered the time Lucius Lavin had spent on Atlantis and exposed them all to his "special herb" and shuddered. He'd been tempted and had actually used it on Sheppard, getting him to clean his quarters. It had seemed kind of funny at the time, but he was no longer amused. "From what I can tell of her search, she didn't go any further than Carson did on his first try. The really dirty details were hidden deep, away from prying eyes, and it would have taken someone with extensive experience with the database to be able to dig as deep as he did to find the actual scientific logs."

"Well, whether she knew or not, is not of any real importance right now. We have the antidote for Teyla and can administer it now. Carson?" Jennifer gestured towards Teyla's bed and he nodded. Marie handed him a sterile syringe without his asking. He plunged the needle into the vial and drew what the database said would be the correct amount of antidote and then paused. He looked up to find himself the center of attention. Lorne, Ronon, Radek, Jennifer, Katie and all of the medical staff on duty, except the nurse still monitoring Sheppard, were watching him with anxious expressions. He nodded and carefully inserted the needle into the IV port, took a deep breath, and pushed the plunger. He drew the needle out and started to watch the machines monitoring her.

"It's not working! Why isn't it working?" Rodney asked, one hand washing the other nervously.

"Rodney, it won't be instantaneous. It will take time to work its way through her bloodstream and do what it needs to do. It could be several hours before we see positive results." Jennifer responded calmly.

"Could be? You mean you don't know? How can you not know?"

"Because we don't." Jennifer looked at the group of people surrounding them. "Look, why don't you and Ronon sit with her for a while? The rest of us have other things we can be doing." Rodney nodded and grabbed the chair closest the bed, not taking his eyes off her. He couldn't do anything for Sheppard right now, but he could watch Teyla for any signs that she was coming out of it. Ronon dragged another chair in and sat on her other side. The others moved away to give the teammates some space. The other bed drew them. Drs. Cole, Beckett and Keller made their way behind the curtains to check on their other patient, leaving the rest not sure what to do as they took chairs to wait. About an hour later, the sound of a new voice made Lorne wince and Radek slouch down in his chair, hiding his face as it went bright red.

"Hi Marie, how are John and Teyla doing?" Celia Larm waltzed into the infirmary to begin her shift. "Were Carson and Jennifer able to find anything to help them?" What she knew about their condition was what she'd heard through the grapevine and the citywide broadcast of the rescue efforts. She really wasn't all that interested unless she was able to be the star and hadn't made any effort to offer her services early, unlike the rest of the medical staff who had shown up in the infirmary before the rescuers had even had a chance to get him there. They'd all chipped in where they could, her absence noted, although it engendered relief not anger. She didn't notice the audience at first.

Marie stiffened but responded with polite chilliness. " _Colonel Sheppard_ is still in critical condition. _Dr. Beckett_ and _Dr. Keller_ were able to find and synthesize an antidote for Teyla with help from Dr. Brown."

"Dr. Brown?" Celia perked up. Was this a new doctor who had joined the team? If so, why hadn't she heard about them.

"Yes, Dr. Brown is a botanist and was…"

Celia interrupted. "Oh, a botanist. Not a real doctor then." She dismissed Katie with a wave of her hand and Lorne was out of his chair without thinking about it, stalking towards the two women. Marie saw him coming and made no effort to warn her coworker.

"Actually, _Miss_. Larm, Katie is a real doctor and a damn fine one." Lorne stated coldly.

"Oh, Evan, I didn't know you were here." She looked behind him to see the rest sitting along the wall and watching with avid interest, even Radek had raised his head, his earlier embarrassment forgotten. She had the grace to blush. "I didn't mean anything by that, I just meant not a medical doctor. I'm sure her assistance was invaluable."

"It was. Just as was the assistance from everyone else who came in off shift to offer their help wherever it was needed." His meaning obvious as he replied. Marie was surprised, she didn't realize he'd noticed, and she fought to keep the smile from her face. Celia rubbed her the wrong way and had from the beginning. She wasn't a bad nurse, just not the kind they needed here where everyone was far from home and could use a warm and friendly presence when spending time in the infirmary.

"Well, that's…that's good. What can I do to help?" She asked belatedly, trying to make up ground.

Marie, as head nurse, was the one who responded. "You can take inventory and restock the shelves. We've used up quite a bit of inventory between Teyla and the Colonel, with some additional smaller emergencies." One of the marines had come in with a gash over his left eye, opened up when he was sparring. It had required several stitches, but he'd been released right away. Several other small incidents had been dealt with, but none had been major.

Celia opened her mouth to protest but never got the chance to complain that it was beneath her capabilities to do such menial work, when Rodney yelled from beside Teyla's bed. "Jennifer? Carson? Get in here! I think she's waking up!" All attention was diverted away from the little scene and onto Teyla's bed. Carson and Jennifer hurried to her side, leaving Miranda Cole with the Colonel as they were still concerned that his temperature was remaining stubbornly high.

Jennifer checked the monitors while Carson leaned over the bed. He checked her vitals the old-fashioned way and received a slight moan when he shone his penlight into her eyes, eliciting a huge smile from the Scot. He lightly tapped her on the cheek. "Teyla? Come on luv, open those beautiful eyes for me." Her lids fluttered. "You can do it Teyla, come on now." Her eyes opened and closed a couple times before focusing on him.

"Carson?"

"Aye lassie, you gave us quite the scare!"

"What happened?" She looked around and saw the worried faces of Ronon and Rodney, along with Lorne, Radek and, was that Katie Brown? The one face she wanted to see was not there. "John?" Another thought crossed her mind and she struggled to sit up. "Torren? Where is my son?"

"Calm down Teyla, he's fine! He's with Amelia and she's spoiling him rotten!" Rodney replied, awkwardly patting her hand.

She relaxed and then tensed again when she realized she'd only gotten one of her questions answered. "John?"

Carson stepped in. "John is…a bit under the weather. I know he'd be so happy to know that you're back with us."

"John is ill? And what happened to me?"

"What do you remember?" Lorne asked.

"I had just gotten back to my quarters from my morning classes. I was going to see if John wanted to get lunch when someone showed up at the door. I did not know her but had seen her around the base. She introduced herself as…Dr. Hanson? She was quite nice and said that John had been on his way with lunch for us but had gotten called away. She said she was coming this way anyway and offered to deliver it for him. She also said that I should go ahead as he had indicated he was not sure how long he would be. I thanked her, and she left. I ate a little and sipped a bit of the water, but I wanted to wait to see if he would join me. I do not remember anything after that."

"Well, it's a good thing ye waited lassie. If you'd eaten more of what she'd brought you, things would have been very different right now."

"Why?"

Lorne answered. "You know John's stalker we were worried about?" She nodded. "Turns out it was Dr. Hanson and she somehow found out about you and John. She wanted you out of the way. The food was laced with a poison that one of the Ancients had developed. She created the same drug and it would have killed you if you'd gotten a bigger dose."

"John?" She knew they were avoiding answering her questions, wanting to protect her but she needed to know, and she needed to know _now_. Her tone left no room for any more prevarication.

Rodney sighed. "She gave him a different drug that knocked him out for a while. It was supposed to make him do whatever she wanted."

"Like Lucius's herb?" Rodney had to smile a bit as he thought about how their common experiences bound them together. She'd made the same connection he had.

"Yes, but not quite as…simple. Turns out long term exposure has some very serious side effects." The alarm on her face had him stumbling over his words. "No, no, no, nothing like that happened to him. He wasn't effected by the drug, so he broke out and went for a little swim."

"Rodney! Broke out from where? Went for a swim where?"

Ronon took over, placing a heavy hand on McKay's shoulder, warning him to shut up. "She kidnapped him and locked him away. When he couldn't get out the door, he went out the window and swam to the East Pier."

"Why would he not just wait for rescue?"

"We're not 100% sure, but we think she threatened you and he was desperate to get out and protect you." Lorne replied.

"Where is she?" Her question was fierce, and they had no doubt that, if she wasn't already in custody, Dr. Hanson would have needed protection from the force known as Teyla Emmagen.

Lorne smiled at her. "She's in a holding cell and might even be awake by now." When she looked at him questioningly, he smirked. "Ronon stunned her."

"Of course he did." She smiled her thanks at the big Satedan. She turned back to the rest.

"Is he alright?" She asked the question but only watched Rodney's face, knowing he had a hard time hiding the truth there and that John meant more to him than anyone other than Jennifer and his sister Jeannie. What she saw there, scared her. "I want to see him!" She struggled to sit up, feeling dizzy and weak but determined.

Jennifer put a hand on her shoulder, easily keeping her in the bed. "Teyla…Teyla, I'm not going to lie to you. He's very ill."

"From the drug?"

"No, that's worn off now. However, it was still in his bloodstream when he went into the water and he just wasn't as strong as he normally would have been. Ronon, Lorne and a team rescued him but he…he stopped breathing for a while. The team got him back, but we aren't sure yet what the long-term effects might be. We don't know for sure how long he was without oxygen. Right now, he's fighting a bacterial infection from something he most likely picked up in the water when his system was already compromised. His temperature is very high, and he's had several episodes of convulsions."

"Several?" Rodney exclaimed. "I thought there was only the one?"

"He's had several smaller ones since the one you witnessed. It's similar tae febrile seizures in children when their temperature spikes. John's are a combination of his fever, the bacterial infection and probably what remains of the drug Hanson injected him with." Carson answered. "They've stopped now but his temperature is still high."

"Please, Carson, Jennifer, I want to see him!" The two doctors exchanged looks and Carson finally nodded.

"On two conditions. First, you use a wheelchair and second, you head back to bed when you're tired or if we tell you to." Jennifer said.

"Anything." Teyla whispered back, suddenly afraid to do the very thing she'd been begging for.

Ronon stepped away and returned with a wheelchair. He scooped her up and sat her in it carefully. Rodney appeared with a blanket from somewhere and gently tucked it in around her legs. The others watched the care and gentleness the warrior giant and the clueless scientist showed her and more than one choked up at the scene, Radek furiously clearing his throat. They made quite the procession as they crossed the short distance between the two beds. Carson stepped up and rapped on the metal edge of the privacy screen surrounding the bed.

Miranda stuck her head out and smiled widely at the sight of Teyla up and about, albeit in the chair. She stepped forward, leaned down and put a hand on Teyla's arm. "It's so good to see you awake Teyla. Colonel Sheppard will be very relieved." She smiled up at the rest of them before returning her attention back to Teyla. "He's doing better. The cooling blankets have helped bring his temperature down and that will let the antibiotics do their work. He's still unconscious but I firmly believe he'll know you're there. Talk to him and let him know that you're alright. That should alleviate some of the worry I'm sure he's still feeling and allow him to concentrate on getting better, so he can be back with you and Torren." She patted the arm and straightened up, gently moving the screen aside enough to allow the wheelchair and her attendants to move inside. Once they passed, she moved it back into place and turned to face the others.

"Is he really doing better doc?" Lorne asked.

"He is. He's still not out of the woods yet, but he's better than he was a few hours ago. He's one of the strongest men I've ever met, and I would never bet against him beating the odds."

Carson looked at the screen longingly. While he trusted Dr. Cole, he wanted to see with his own two eyes but also wanted to give the team their time together. He was surprised when Ronon and Rodney slid through the screen and rejoined them a few moments later.

"I thought you two would want to spend time with the Colonel?" He asked.

"We will but, right now, Teyla needs this time alone with him more." Rodney answered. Several eyebrows shot up at the untypical response and Ronon grinned.

"He made me leave them alone together. I think Jennifer has brought out the romantic side of one Dr. Rodney McKay." Both Jennifer and Rodney blushed while the rest laughed quietly. Things still weren't back to normal, but they were looking up.

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	11. Chapter 11

A/N – many thanks to honus47 for editing all my chapters/stories!

A/N2 - to my guest reviewer who said this strongly reminded her of Play Misty for Me, I looked it up as I've never seen it. Not a big Clint Eastwood fan. My cable company has it on demand and I plan to watch it!

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Chapter 11

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Teyla stared at the man in the bed, connected to wires and machines, covered with a strange looking blanket. He was so quiet and still. The only time Colonel John Sheppard was quiet and still, he was either about to attack or at death's door. She didn't like knowing which one it was, she'd seen it too many times already. She reached out and gently touched the hand closest to her, the one without an IV in it, surprised and worried at the heat coming off him. She turned the hand carefully and gripped it in her own. Leaning forward she placed her forehead carefully against his, not hearing her teammates quietly leave the space.

"John? I am here. Carson and Jennifer were able to help me, just like they are helping you. You need to fight this, Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard. You need to come back to us, to me. We have a wonderful future waiting for us, but you need to be here. Dr. Hanson is in the brig and will not hurt anyone else again, I can promise you that." She whispered fiercely. If the SGC didn't take care of Hanson, she would, and she knew she'd have help. His hand twitched in hers and tightened around her fingers for a moment although his eyes didn't open. The lines around his eyes seemed to lessen a little and she took heart.

"John? I do not know if you can hear me, but I want you to know how much I love you. How much Torren loves you." She squeezed his fingers again and this time his head turned towards her. She knew he was still unconscious but was overwhelmed that her words had reached him and that he'd automatically turned towards her. She stroked her free hand down the side of his face, continuing to murmur softly. None of it really making sense but conveying her love and support. A short while later, she yawned and put her head down on the bed for just a moment.

They found her like that an hour later when Rodney peeked in to see how she was doing. His panicked call for medical help brought everyone running and she raised her head to blink sleepily at him without really waking up, putting it back down and falling right back to sleep.

"Rodney? What are ye going on aboot?" Carson asked quietly.

"She was out cold, I was afraid she'd fallen back into a coma!"

"Nonsense, she's just exhausted."

"She just slept for hours! How can she be tired?"

"A coma isn't a healing sleep. A good nap is exactly what she needs right now."

Ronon stopped behind them, worried that something was going on. He smiled at the conversation and the scene beside Sheppard's bed. He quietly stepped in and carefully lifted Teyla into his arms. Carson gently untangled her hand from John's, eliciting a murmured 'no'. Carson took the hand in his own and Ronon made his way towards her bed. She clung to it and calmed. When she was placed into her own bed, she again struggled a bit and said. "John?"

Surprisingly, it was Rodney who leaned forward and did his best John Sheppard imitation. "I'm fine. Go to sleep."

She smiled and snuggled down into the covers. Carson quietly took her vitals and then motioned her teammates away. He pulled the privacy screens around her and they made their way to the rest of the group who were still hanging around. Lorne was missing as he had work to do but Radek and Katie were both there, tablets open but forgotten on their laps.

"What happened?" Asked Radek worriedly.

"McKay had a panic attack at the sight of Teyla sleeping." Ronon smirked.

"I did not! I simply wanted to be sure that she hadn't slipped back into a coma."

"Aye, Rodney, I know ye did. Ye're a good friend." Carson soothed him.

"I am, aren't I?" McKay preened a little. Ronon smacked him on the back, pushing him several feet forward.

"What was _that_ for?" He rubbed the now aching shoulder.

The smirk was gone from Ronon's face and he looked serious. "Doc's right. You are a good friend."

The expression on McKay's face was enough to send the rest of them into gales of laughter. Some of it due to the relief that at least one of their friends appeared to be out of danger.

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John continued to hold his own over the next few days, but his fever refused to break. Teyla left his side only to eat, sleep, spend a little time with Torren and take care of her own needs. She spent hours each day with him, and a good part of the night after sneaking out of her bed. Holding his hand and talking to him, just like Dr. Cole suggested. She wiped his face with a cloth of cool water as it seemed to make him feel better. The doctors conferred but agreed they were doing all they could, and it was up to time and the Colonel to do the rest. On the fourth day after Teyla woke up, she was dozing by his side when something made her sit up. She watched John carefully and finally saw a bead of sweat make its way down the side of his face. Gently laying his hand on the bed, she scurried out to find either Carson or Jennifer, neither one of whom was ever far from John's side. Carson looked up from his paperwork when he saw her racing towards him, his heart rate picked up as he went to go meet her, worried about what had her so worked up.

"Teyla? What is it?" None of the alarms on the machinery around John had issued a warning but he trusted her instincts.

"Carson! I think John's fever has broken! He is sweating and does not feel anywhere near as hot!" She grabbed his hand and dragged him toward John's bed, although he needed no persuading. Inside, he saw the same as she and he said a silent prayer of thanks to any and all gods who might be listening. He put the thermometer into the Colonel's ear and waited for what seemed like hours for it to beep, indicating it was ready. The result made him smile widely.

"Aye, Teyla, ye're right! His temperature is down tae 103. Still high but much better than the 105-106 he has been running. I think he might have finally turned the corner!"

Teyla sank into his arms and hugged him tightly. The worry of the last few days giving way to a silent torrent of tears. Carson wrapped his arms around her and just let her get it all out. When she finally stepped back, he reached up and brushed a few tears away, smiling when she blushed furiously. "It's perfectly natural, lassie. Ye've been very worried over the past few days and, as me mum used to say, a good cry gets all the bad out. Now, would ye like tae be the one tae inform his friends that he's taken a turn for the better?"

"Yes! I need to tell them, all of them." She reached up to touch her earpiece, only to remember she hadn't worn one for days. Carson smiled and removed his, handing it to her silently. She smiled widely at him and he thought, not for the first time, what a lucky man his friend was. He stepped back and let her make her calls in peace, knowing the infirmary would erupt in visitors in just a few minutes. All of them had been in and out at various times over the last few days, keeping Teyla company or sitting with John when she went back to her quarters to spend time with her son or to sleep. The entire base seemed to be waiting for something. He'd noticed how unnaturally quiet it was the few times he left the infirmary himself. He had a feeling the waiting was almost over.

Rodney was the first one through the door, skidding to a halt and bent over, panting hard. "Rodney, what's the rush?"

"Teyla…Teyla…said…John's…fever…had…broken." He could barely get the words out between gasping for air.

"Aye, it is. Still high though." He felt he had to issue the warning, although he was just as excited inside. "But the fever's definitely broken."

A weird look came over Rodney's face as he pulled up a not so distant memory. "What about…brain damage? Weren't you and Jennifer concerned about how long he'd been without O2?"

"Aye, but none of the scans show any anomalies. There could be something that we can't see even with the Ancient technology, but I'm cautiously optimistic."

"Cautiously…? You doctors are all the same! Platitudes, wishy washy mumbo jumbo and no concrete information!"

Carson was used to Rodney's tirades against the medical profession and just smiled. "Aye, it's an inexact science at times. The human body can do marvelous things and can also take a turn for the worse with no good reason."

"Humph. I don't know why…" He was interrupted when the next person rushed into the room. Ronon looked a little wild eyed and was still carrying his Bantos rods. He'd obviously just come from sparring and had forgotten to leave them behind.

"Is he awake?" The big man asked, looking at Rodney who was still breathing hard and raising an eyebrow.

"Not yet. His fever has broken and his temps down, but he hasn't woken up yet. That could take a wee bit."

"Damn."

"Excuse me?" Carson's jaw just about dropped open.

"What? Didn't I use it right? Felt right."

"Ah, aye, you used it right."

"Well?"

"Nothing, nothing. Teyla's in with John. Why don't ye two go have a visit?"

The two men disappeared towards John's bed, a brief struggle ensuing as they both tried to go through the opening at the same time. Ronon solved it by simply pushing the mobile privacy curtains further apart. Carson could hear Teyla welcoming them and then the quiet murmur of conversation softly spoken.

Radek was next, looking almost as wild as Ronon, but then, that was his usual look. "Colonel is better?"

Carson wondered if he should just write up a sign and post it outside John's area. Yes, his temperature is down. Yes, the fever has broken. No, he's not awake yet. Yes, you can visit for a short time. That's what he'd put up. Chuckling a little, he said the words to Radek out loud, who then also disappeared behind the curtains. The murmur increased slightly and then fell again.

The Scot looked at his watch, mentally betting himself on when the next person or persons would slide through the door and who it would be. He won on the time but lost on the who. Or at least on _all_ of the who. Lorne appeared as he'd expected but had Katie Brown in tow. He'd heard a rumor that Katie had been dating an engineer but that he'd recently broken it off because she was too focused on her work. Not that he listened to gossip, mind you. Sometimes you just couldn't help over hear your nurses discussing things. Especially when you walked quietly and stayed hidden during said discussion. Secretly, he was very pleased as he thought the two people in front of him would make an excellent couple. He felt a little sad then. Rodney had Jennifer. John had Teyla. It was obvious that Ronon and Amelia were a couple. If Lorne and Katie hooked up, he and Radek would be the only ones left alone. Even then, he'd heard another 'rumor' that the little Czech and the quiet Miko Kusanagi had been seen together more often than their work warranted.

"Doc?"

He went through his routine again and they then both joined the growing crowd around Sheppard's bed, the mobile curtains moving outwards with each new visitor. When Jennifer and Miranda showed up hours ahead of their schedule, right on the heels of Lorne and Katie, he just waved them in. When it appeared the influx was over, he decided to join his friends. Inside the curtained area, which was becoming less private by the minute, the mood was quiet but jubilant. They were all pleased at the turn of events but trying to keep their voices down so as not to disturb the patient. He moved through the crowd and quietly began doing vitals again, pleased to see his patient's temperature had fallen another half a degree to 102.5.

He looked up to find a pair of glassy hazel eyes staring at him. He smiled and opened his mouth to welcome John back when Sheppard beat him to it.

"Having a party and didn't invite me?" The raspy voice was just loud enough to silence the conversations around him. It lasted only seconds before erupting into 'about times' and 'welcome backs'. When it finally died down, Sheppard wearily looked at everyone surrounding his bed and asked. "What happened?"

"Oh God, he does have brain damage!" Rodney moaned.

"Rodney!" Carson admonished him and then turned back to the Colonel. "What do ye remember, son?"

Feeling incredibly tired and not up for long conversation, John sighed and gave a condensed version. "Hanson. Drugged. Locked room. Swim to East Pier. Teyla." He shot up in bed. "Teyla!"

She rushed to his side and grabbed his hand. "I am here John and just fine! How are you feeling?"

"Teyla?" He shakingly put up a hand to touch her face and she turned into his palm. "You're okay? She didn't hurt you?"

"She tried but did not succeed." Having exhausted what little reserve of strength he had, Sheppard slumped back in the bed and closed his eyes.

"Is he going to be okay?" Ronon asked.

"Aye, looks that way!" Carson responded, pleased. "He most likely will never remember the result of his swim or the rescue, but that's tae be expected as he was unconscious through most of it. He remembered Dr. Hanson and her threat tae Teyla, so it appears his memory is fine."

" _He_ is in the room and can hear you." Sheppard's voice was weak, but they could hear his exasperation loud and clear.

"Now, all of you out so I can examine my patient." Carson said as he began to shoo them out, only to turn around and find one or more of them had slipped back in behind his back. "Out! All of ye except Jennifer and Miranda." They said their final goodbyes and finally left, although Teyla remained. She looked determined not to move an inch.

"Teyla, love, why don't ye go grab something tae eat and come back in a half hour. We should have finished the exam by then and gotten John cleaned up and the bed changed. He's sweated right through them. I'm sure he'd like tae feel clean." Here John groaned his agreement, not happy with the number of tubes going into and out of his body. He hated catheters, what man didn't? He understood the need but would start lobbying for its removal immediately.

"John?" She went to stand by his bed and took his hand.

"I'll be fine, and I could really stand a change of clothes, maybe some scrubs?" He looked past her to Carson, who gave nothing away. "Go grab something to eat and, when you come back, I'll be in better shape." Even the short conversation was wiping him out.

She studied him and then finally nodded. Leaning down, she touched her forehead to his sweaty one and whispered to him. "I love you."

He looked up at her and smiled that crooked smile that never ceased to make her heart flutter and replied. "I love you too." She smiled down at him and the two were frozen in place until Carson finally took hold of her arm.

"Out with ye, lassie. He'll still be here when ye get back."

"Very well, I will be right back John." Sheppard nodded and watched her go. He turned to find Carson smiling at him and he blushed, although he would blame it on the fever if asked.

"Now, how are ye really feeling son?"

"Tired. Like I got run over by a truck. What happened doc?"

"Let's get ye squared away and then we can talk." Carson proceeded to take the Colonel's vitals again, making notations in his chart and, when done, had Marie and one of the other nurses come in to change the bed sheets and clean the Colonel up. Feeling better once out of the damp, sweaty clothes and with clean sheets under him, John still felt tired.

"What'd she give me?"

"Something one of the Ancients whipped up that turned humans into robots that did everything they were bid." His disdain was clear.

"Like Lucius's herb?"

Carson grimaced. That was the third time someone had likened the drug to that lamentable incident. Sheppard had teased him about his addiction to Lucius for several weeks after they'd administered the antidote. He remembered every moment and still couldn't believe he'd acted such a fool. He shook his head no.

"Don't remember that. In fact, I remember that I didn't want to do anything she wanted me to, unless…." He paused, stricken.

"Unless what?"

"What if I don't remember?" He whispered back.

"Don't worry aboot it. Turns out those with the ATA gene are pretty much immune tae that aspect of the drug."

John felt an overwhelming relief. "Good, good. What happened to Teyla? She said Hanson tried to hurt her but didn't succeed."

"She was given a different drug hidden in her food, but she didn't eat all of it so was spared the worst outcome. She was in a coma for a bit, but Jennifer and I found an antidote in the Ancient database and were able tae recreate it, with Katie Brown's help I might add!"

"Katie?"

"Aye, her and Lorne made quite a team!" Carson twinkled at him and John had to smile. The smile slipped away when he ran their conversation through is head.

"What do you mean Teyla was spared the worst outcome?"

"Well, in full dose, it causes the victim tae slowly suffocate tae death." Carson took a step back when he saw the change come over his friend. The man's eyes went dead, and he seemed a different person.

"Where is she?" The tone of voice made Carson shiver. John's easygoing normal persona made it easy to forget he was a trained soldier, capable of killing even though it was to protect.

"Ronon shot her."

"Is she dead?" The words were cold yet somehow hopeful.

"No, she's in the brig. My understanding is that Major Lorne was quite peeved with him as he had wanted tae interrogate her." He tried to inject some humor into the conversation and it worked when the light came back into his friend's eyes and his lips quirked.

"Now, that I would have liked to see."

"Ye might have, if ye'd stuck around instead of trying out for a bloody swim marathon."

"Couldn't just sit there, doc."

"Ye were drugged, ye great bloody eejit!"

"And I had no idea how long it would take for someone to find me or what was happening to Teyla. She threatened the woman I love, what was I supposed to do?"

Carson's mouth opened and closed like a fish, not ever expecting John Sheppard to be so open about his feelings for anyone, not even Teyla. He shook his head. "Well, it's over now and ye have a nice long stay in the infirmary tae look forward tae."

"The drug was that powerful?"

"Nay, ye didn't make it to the East Pier on yer own. Ronon went in after ye and Lorne took up a team in a jumper tae pull the two of ye out. Ye swallowed a lot of water and weren't breathing when they brought ye on board. Sgt. LaCroix had to perform CPR on ye to get ye back. Ye were hypothermic when ye finally made it back, which might hae been a blessing in disguise as it slowed yer metabolism down. Unfortunately, when yer temp came back up, it just kept right on going. Ye picked up a bacterial infection that did nae want tae let go. Yer temp spiked to 106 and ye went into convulsions."

"Doesn't sound pleasant, kinda glad I missed it."

Carson sighed. "Tis no joke, Colonel! Ye're important tae this base. It wouldn't be the same if we'd lost ye."

"It's never the same, doc. But, we move on." John seemed pensive and Carson realized he was thinking of those they'd lost along the way, including, ironically, his own self.

"Aye, well. Ye're on the mend now and have a lovely lassie waiting for ye along with a wee lad who misses ye."

John lit up. "I can't wait to see Torren."

"Well, do as ye told and maybe ye'll see him sooner rather than later."

"Is that blackmail I hear?"

"Aye and what of it?"

"Proud of you, doc. Didn't think you had it in you."

Carson blinked a couple times and was saved when Teyla returned to the infirmary.

~,~,~,~,~

Epilogue

John was finally released from the infirmary after a week, with strict instructions that he was to rest and do nothing more strenuous than a short walk. He and Teyla holed up in her room for the first day with Torren. The next morning, she followed him when he stalked to his room, dressed in her Athosian workout clothes, her Bantos rods strapped to her back. Removing his civilian clothes, he silently put on his regular uniform of black BDUs and strapped on his 9 mil. The sight of him standing there stirred her. For some reason, the thigh holster did funny things to her insides. She pushed the temptation away as she knew he was focused on what he needed to do. Dressed, he turned to her and tilted his head. She nodded and stood. They walked together to the brig, still silent.

The marine on guard snapped to attention when John appeared, saluting even though it wasn't required. It spoke volumes about respect and the relief that he was recovering, without a word being spoken.

"Fredericks, I'm going to need the room."

"Done sir!" The man stepped away without asking a single question. John slid his hand over the sensor and the doors swished open.

Ruth looked up at the sound of the door opening. She sprang up from her cot when she saw him enter. "John! You're alright! Oh darling, it's so good to see you!" Teyla stepped through and Ruth's face turned bright red, her lips turning up into a sneer. "What is _she_ doing here?"

" _She_ is here because I asked her to be. She is here because she's the woman I love."

"Oh John, you don't know what you're saying! You don't love her, you love me! You know you do, you don't need to pretend anymore. Remember what you said? That you're using her to get those backwards worlds to cooperate. Tell her!"

"She knows what she is to me. She is the love of my life and my rock. One of the most honorable and smart women I've ever met. She is so far above you she is just a shining star in your night sky." Teyla looked at him, hiding her surprise at his poetic words. She was seeing a side of him she'd had no idea existed and she found she liked it.

"John, what are you going on about? We're meant to be together, you know that!"

"We were never meant to be anything, and we never will be. You're being sent back to the SGC to face trial for the attempted murder of the leader of the Athosians and kidnapping of the commanding officer of this base."

Completely ignoring his words about Teyla, Ruth fastened onto those about him. "I had to get you away from her influence. I love you! I would _never_ harm you!"

"You drugged me and locked me away. Cut out my transmitter and threw it into the ocean. You most likely won't end up in jail, my educated guess is that you'll end up in an asylum somewhere. I wish I could feel sorry for you but all I feel is rage." He stalked up to the edge of the brig. "If I had my way, I'd give you what you gave Teyla and stand watch as it did its work." His face and eyes were flat, cold and devoid of any kind of feeling. Ruth stepped back, afraid.

"John, you don't mean that!"

"I never gave you permission to use my first name. You will address me as Colonel Sheppard, if you must address me at all. The last time I'll ever see you Dr. Hanson, will be when you're taken into custody by Colonel Caldwell and escorted onto the Daedalus for transport back to Earth. I won't wish you well as I hope you rot in hell."

He turned on his heel and left. Teyla paused a moment as she listened to Hanson scream his name and insist they loved each other. She shook her head and followed her love.

~,~,~,~,~

Epilogue

Ruth slowly shuffled onto the Daedalus, dragging her feet and craning her neck for a glimpse of John, sure that he would come to his senses and stop this travesty. Behind her, another woman followed, an airman carrying her baggage. She tried to drown out the annoying sound of the woman's voice as she went on and on about how she was heading home to be Atlantis's right-hand woman in the ongoing medical research the base was doing. How important her work was and how honored she was that Carse and Jen trusted her, completely oblivious to the fact that she had pretty much been given the boot back to Earth.

John stood on the balcony overlooking the pier where the ship was docked, Teyla at his side. He watched Ruth Hanson and Celia Larm walk up the ramp, along with the personnel transferring back home. Celia quickly caught up with and then passed Ruth, who was being prodded along by the armed guard escorting her. He caught her eye and pulled Teyla close, deliberately planting a kiss on the tip of her head as she snuggled into his side, his eyes never leaving the botanist's. The look on the woman's face sent a shiver down his spine. She would soon be gone from his city, but the legacy she left behind would take time to heal. He'd recently had several nightmares where Teyla took Mandy's place, or vice versa, sometimes both of them in mortal danger and he couldn't save either of them. Teyla would wake him and just the fact of her being at his side would drive the shadows away.

~,~,~,~,~


End file.
